UK polls point to ‘election annihilation’ for Prime Minister Sunak’s Conservatives By Reuters
Written by David Milliken
LONDON (Reuters) – Three British opinion polls released late on Saturday painted a bleak picture for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, with one pollster warning the party faces “electoral extinction” in the July 4 election.
The poll comes in the middle of the election campaign, a week after the Conservatives and Labor set out their manifestos, and just before voters start receiving postal ballots.
Sunak surprised many in his party by announcing early elections on May 22, against expectations that he would wait until the end of the year to allow more time for living standards to rebound after the highest inflation in 40 years.
Market research firm Savanta found 46% support for Keir Starmer’s Labor Party, up 2 points on the previous poll five days ago, while support for the Conservatives fell 4 points to 21%. Voting takes place from June 12 to June 14 in the Sunday Telegraph.
Labour’s 25-point lead was the biggest since Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, whose tax-cutting plans caused investors to dump British government bonds, raised interest rates and forced the Bank of England to intervene.
“Our research shows that this election is likely to be a landslide for the Conservative Party,” said Chris Hopkins, director of political research at Savanta.
A separate poll by Survation, published by the Sunday Times, predicted the Conservatives could end up with just 72 seats in the 650-member House of Commons – the lowest in their nearly 200-year history – and Labor would win seats. 456.
The poll was conducted from May 31 to June 13.
In percentage terms, the Survation poll had Labor on 40% and the Conservatives on 24%, while former Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party – a right-wing rival to the Conservatives – was on 12%.
The third poll, carried out by Opinium for the Sunday Observer and carried out from June 12 to June 14, also showed Labor at 40%, the Conservatives at 23% and the Reforms at 14%, the two main parties allowing smaller rivals.
