Failed Tory project fear drove voters to Labour and Reform, poll reveals
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Conservatives’ “project fear” tactic deployed to scare voters with the threat of a Labour “supermajority” has spectacularly backfired, new polling has revealed.According to findings from Techne UK for The Independent, twice as many people are “more likely” to vote Labour (26 per cent) than more likely to vote Conservative (13 per cent) as a result of the warning used by Rishi Sunak and senior Conservatives about handing Sir Keir Starmer too much power.The tactic was also used to try to prevent Tory voters defecting to Reform, but almost one in 10 (9 per cent) said the warning had in fact made them “more likely” to vote for Nigel Farage’s party.The survey’s findings appear to confirm warnings by former chancellor George Osborne – whose own project fear tactics were blamed for defeat in the EU Brexit referendum – that Mr Sunak and the Tories were “fighting the wrong campaign”.He had warned they were too focused on Reform and letting Labour “run rampant” in so-called blue wall safe seats.But the polling by Techne has offered the Tories a slither of hope with postal voting.While just under a quarter of those voting have said they will vote by post, the results break much more favourably for the Conservatives and Reform UK.Considering only the vote by post, the Conservatives would get 30 per cent, Labour 33 per cent, Reform UK 26 per cent and the Lib Dems 6 per cent.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives in Redcar, North Yorkshire, while on the campaign trail More