Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Owen Smith’s Labour leadership speech
9.32am BST
YouGov has now posted its poll findings on its website.
Here is an extract from the commentary from YouGov’s Matthew Smith.
The Conservative lead is now larger than at any time since the 2015 general election, and represents a remarkable turnaround for the party which was 3% behind Labour in late April. It is still unclear whether the results are sustainable or are just down to a new-PM bounce and the continued division in the Labour party.
Voters also expressed their support for new Prime Minister Theresa May, with 52% of them saying that she would be a better Prime Minister than Jeremy Corbyn, who was supported by just 18%. May’s efforts to reach out to Labour voters may be bearing some fruit, with 29% of 2015 Labour voters preferring her premiership to Jeremy Corbyn’s – every little will help when the Conservatives have such a slim majority. May is also overwhelmingly preferred to Corbyn among 2015 Lib Dem voters (66% vs 8%) and 2015 UKIP voters (75% vs 4%).
9.21am BST
Many people don’t trust pollsters anymore. If Labour party members, and the 180,000 registered supporters who signed up to take part in the leadership contest, are in this category, then Jeremy Corbyn has nothing to worry about.
But if voters in the contest are swayed by polling, then it’s a difficult morning for the Labour leader. Yesterday an ICM poll gave the Tories a 16-point lead. This morning new figures are out from YouGov. They put the Tory lead at a mere 12 points, but the Times has splashed on the figures, highlighting the finding that almost a third of those who voted Labour in 2015 prefer Theresa May as prime minister to Jeremy Corbyn. Here is the Times’ story (paywall) and here’s an extract.
When those who voted Labour in last year’s election were asked to choose between Mrs May and Mr Corbyn as prime minister, 29 per cent opted for the Tory leader. This equates to 2.7 million Labour voters out of 9.3 million. Among voters generally, only 19 per cent believe that the Labour leader would make a better prime minister. The poll also suggests that the EU referendum is leaving a lasting mark on Westminster politics. Thirteen per cent of people who voted to leave now back the Labour Party, against 51 per cent who support the Tories.
Mrs May’s Conservative government leads Labour by 12 points, the largest gap since her party returned to Downing Street six years ago, a YouGov survey forThe Times found. It is a bigger lead than Gordon Brown achieved during his bounce after succeeding Tony Blair. Labour dropped to its lowest share of the vote since the eve of the election in 2010.
The poll also found that Mrs May has started to attract some Ukip voters. It put the Tories on 40 per cent and Labour on 28 per cent, its lowest result under Mr Corbyn. Ukip was on 13 per cent and the Lib Dems on 8 per cent.
Tomorrow’s front page: Millions of Labour voters place May above Corbyn #Tomorrowspaperstoday http://pic.twitter.com/Q4WjtZoMkF
Today’s Yorkshire Post front page #yplive http://pic.twitter.com/n2Yk9dCTbS
Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2aptL9A
Sig Nordal 