Rishi Sunak has rejected suggestions the Conservatives will come in third place behind Reform UK at the general election, after a new demoralising poll. for the party.
Speaking to reporters on the final day of the G7 summit in Italy, the prime minister said there was plenty of time for a “comeback” and the choice between the Tories and Labour will “crystallise for people between now and polling day”.
His comments come after a devastating YouGov poll for the prime minister which has Nigel Farage’s party at 19 per cent and the Conservatives on 18 per cent in voting intention.
Mr Sunak said: “We are only halfway through this election, so I’m still fighting very hard for every vote.
“And what that poll shows is – the only poll that matters is the one on July 4 – but if that poll was replicated on July 4, it would be handing Labour a blank cheque to tax everyone, tax their home, their pension, their car, their family, and I’ll be fighting very hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“And actually, when I’ve been out and about talking to people, they do understand that a vote for anyone who is not a Conservative candidate is just a vote to put Keir Starmer in No 10.”
He added that there is a “massive difference” between Labour and the Tories, claiming that Labour would “raise the tax burden to the highest level in this country’s history” after Sir Keir’s party launched its manifesto on Thursday.
“I think that choice will crystallise for people between now and polling day,” the prime minister said.
Speaking on Friday morning Mr Farage refused to be drawn on the amount of seats his party could win but said it had made a “phenomenal start”.
He told BBC Breakfast: “Back in 2015 when I led Ukip into a general election, we got 4 million votes and one seat – never before had anybody got so many votes for so little reward.
“But we’re looking this time at many, many more votes than 4 million, we’re hoping to get through the electoral threshold. Whatever we do, we may not get the number of seats we deserve, but are we going to win seats in Parliament? Yes.
“How many? There’s three weeks to go, we’ve got momentum behind us and there’s three long weeks to go.”
In the YouGov poll which revealed the Tory-Reform reversal, Labour remains in the lead at 37 per cent of voting intention, with the Liberal Democrats at 14 per cent, the Greens at 7 per cent, the SNP at 3 per cent, Plaid Cymru at 1 per cent and others at 2 per cent.
It was conducted on a sample size of 2,211 adults in Britain between June 12 and 13 and pollsters caveated that Reform‘s lead is within the margin of error.
