UK Tories bound to face worst elections with less than 100 seats: Poll
3 Min Read
Conducted by agency Survation on behalf of Best for Britain, the seat-by-seat analysis netted 98 constituencies for Conservatives as opposed to Labour’s 468, which gives Keir Starmer a 286-seat majority.
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Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to employees of a bus depot during the launch of the local elections campaign in Heanor, England, Friday, March 22, 2024. (AP)
A new poll by the Sunday Times shows that the Conservatives in the UK are due to face their worst election result with less than 100 seats.
Conducted by agency Survation on behalf of Best for Britain, the seat-by-seat analysis provides the Tories with 98 constituencies as opposed to Labour’s 468, which gives Keir Starmer a 286-seat majority.
The poll also gives Labour a 45% vote share, leading ahead of the Tories with 19 points.
The research suggests that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is close to losing his own constituency, the new Richmond & Northallerton seat in North Yorkshire, to the Labour party, adding that Reform UK will win seven seats and an overall vote share of 8.5%, behind the Liberal Democrats with 10.4%.
Best for Britain’s chief executive, Naomi Smith, said, “With the polling showing swathes of voters turning their backs on the Tories, it’s clear that this will be a change election.”
To compare, back in 2019, the Conservatives had 365 seats, Labour 203, the SNP 48, the Liberal Democrats 11 and Plaid four.
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23,000-member plunge in Labour
According to figures released to its National Executive Committee (NEC), Labour has seen more than a 23,000 plunge in membership over the past two months due to its policy on the "Israel" genocide in Gaza and backtracking on green investment.
The party’s general secretary, David Evans, announced that the latest count of membership is at 366,604 as opposed to January's 390,000. In 2019, it reached more than 532,000.
Luke Akehurst, an NEC member, said, “Party membership is still at historically high levels. Labour only had 150,000 members at the end of its last period in office [in 2010],” adding, “The state of the opinion polls suggest there is no correlation between membership and electoral popularity.”
Back in December, a poll revealed Sunak reached a new low in approval ratings among UK conservatives.
Statistics showed that Sunak's favourability dipped to a whopping minus 26.5, dropping in over a one percent estimate value in just a month, essentially indicating that 26.5% more of conservative party members do not approve of him, according to results from the ConservativeHome website.
Cabinet members also showed hefty discontent with Sunak.
