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New poll puts Labour ahead of Tories for first time since Jeremy Corbyn became leader

YouGov’s director says the Conservatives’ 'Euro squabbles' are 'hurting the party’s image'

Ian Johnston
Friday 18 March 2016 01:10 GMT
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Jeremy Corbyn said that George Osborne must follow in Iain Duncan Smith's footsteps and resign following backlash over the Budget
Jeremy Corbyn said that George Osborne must follow in Iain Duncan Smith's footsteps and resign following backlash over the Budget (Getty)

A new poll has put Labour ahead of the Conservatives for the first time since Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader.

Labour was on 34 per cent, with Tories one point behind on 33 per cent, according to the YouGov poll. Ukip was in third place on 16 per cent with the Lib Dems on six per cent, The Daily Mirror reported.

A recent poll by ICM had put the Conservatives and Labour level on 36 per cent, but some had thought this might have just been a one-off, freak result.

YouGov found that 51 per cent of respondents thought the Government was dealing with the economy badly. The number of people who thought Chancellor George Osborne was handling the economy badly, 46 per cent, was double those who thought he was doing well, 23 per cent.

Anthony Wells, YouGov’s director, said the Conservatives’ “Euro squabbles” were “hurting the party’s image”.

When its poll was published on Monday, ICM warned it might just be a “rogue” result.

But it also said the Tories’ splits over the European Union could be hurting its level of support.

“Under normal circumstances, we might not have been surprised to see a collapse in the government share,” ICM said.

“We have an unprecedented level of division within the Conservative Party over the EU, a battle which is very much being fought front and centre with the current Prime Minister on one side and a Prime Ministerial hopeful on the other.

“Under such circumstances, polling support tends to suffer – there’s nothing worse than party disunity to prompt a polling freefall.”

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