LONDON — So much for the Rishi Sunak recovery.
Britain’s opposition Labour Party on Thursday bagged its largest polling lead over the governing Tories since Liz Truss was prime minister.
A new YouGov poll for the Times, published Thursday, sees Labour enjoying a 30 point lead over the Conservatives.
Keir Starmer’s party now sits on 48 percent support to the Tories’ 18 percent.
That’s the biggest gulf for Prime Minister Sunak since he entered office in October 2022 after Truss’ chaotic 49-day tenure in Downing Street.
The Tory vote share as measured by YouGov is now even lower than it was at the nadir of Truss’ premiership.
Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform U.K. is also challenging the government on the right, the poll suggests. It logged 13 percent in the YouGov study, with a quarter of 2019 Tory voters now saying they back the outfit.
The poll is a further headache for Sunak, fresh from a difficult set of local and mayoral elections for his government and the defection of another Conservative MP to Labour.
Voters are also unconvinced about Sunak’s claim that last week’s elections show Britain is heading for a hung parliament in which Labour falls short of a majority. Just 14 percent of those polled by YouGov agree with Sunak’s diagnosis. Two thirds (66 percent) of those polled expect a Labour majority, while just 5 percent think the Tories will win a majority.
YouGov polled 2,072 people on May 7-8, just days after the local elections drubbing.
POLITICO’s Poll of Polls has consistently shown a significant Labour lead since Sunak became prime minister, despite a series of attempted relaunches by the Tory prime minister.
