Theresa May gets big boost after opening up massive 11% lead over Jeremy Corbyn in first opinion poll since she became Prime Minister
Tory leader sees party’s rating with the public go up by 10 points since April, despite being split over Europe
THERESA May has opened up a massive 11% lead over Jeremy Corbyn in the first opinion poll since she became Prime Minister.
The Tory leader has seen her party’s rating with the public go up by 10 points since April, despite being split over Europe after the Brexit vote.
Meanwhile Labour, in the middle of a destructive and divisive leadership contest, dipped below 30% after dropping four points.
Mrs May has ruled out a snap election, but if the YouGov results are indicative of the mood across the country she would be in for a resounding a win.
Labour are behind the Tories everywhere across the UK except for the north of England, including strongholds like Wales and the Midlands.
The poll is bad news for the party’s embattled leader Mr Corbyn, who is due to fight Owen Smith in a leadership contest in the coming weeks.
It shows the opposition are now even behind in London, albeit by a single percentage point, but they are 9% behind the Tories in Scotland, where they used to regularly defeat the Tories.
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The only good news for Mr Corbyn was another poll, which said his support among party members had gone up, and gave him a 22-point lead over Mr Smith.
But the headline figure of 40% to 29% is the most striking, although it may be a case of “new leader bounce” for Mrs May.
A spokesman for YouGov said about the results: “Parties under new leadership tend to poll relatively higher in the weeks and months following the appointment of a new leader.
“The results could lead to renewed calls from Conservatives for Theresa May to capitalise on her initial popularity and call a general election - as Gordon Brown famously failed to do when he was experiencing his own new leader bounce.
“However, it could be part of a longer term trend towards the Conservatives as swing voters are put off Labour by the party's constant infighting.
“Currently 90% of 2015 Conservative voters plan to vote for them again, compared to 76% of 2015 Labour voters.”
Elsewhere in the poll Ukip’s share of the vote has dropped from a high of 20% in the run up to the referendum, to 12% in the wake of the historic vote for Brexit.
The Lib Dems, the only major party except the SNP who haven’t had a leadership race in recent weeks, see a slight rise from 6% to 9%.