Labour closes gap with Tories by three points, new poll finds

The poll comes at the end of the Labour leadership contest

Jeremy Corbyn

Labour has slightly narrowed the gap between its poll rating and that of the Conservatives, a new poll shows.

The ICM survey for the Guardian newspaper shows a six-point lead for the Tories, down from nine points in the previous survey conducted last month.

The opposition party’s rating increased by one per cent, with the Conservatives themselves down two per cent.

The poll was conducted entirely after voting had closed in the Labour leadership contest but only partly after the result was announced.

Jeremy Corbyn was announced as the party’s new leader on Saturday, though he has been reported as the favourite in the contest for some months.

Mr Corbyn has faced a barrage of negative stories in his first week in the job. Coverage has focused on shadow cabinet resignations and things that Mr Corbyn had said whilst serving as a backbencher.

The Guardian/ICM poll had Ukip in third place on 13 per cent and the Liberal Democrats in fourth on eight per cent.

The SNP are on five per cent and the Green Party on three.

Pollsters are currently conducting an industry inquiry into their practices after most failed to accurately predict the result of the 2015 general election.

Surveys by the YouGov firm however correctly predicted that Jeremy Corbyn would win the Labour leadership election, a boost for pollsters’ reputation.