UK: Labor lead over Tories rises to historic level

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Labor leader Starmer at the party conference in Liverpool: Good mood

Photo: HENRY NICHOLLS / REUTERS

The pound is falling, the new government is off to a shaky start, Prime Minister Liz Truss' economic reforms are as controversial as they are unpopular: the British Conservatives are in a deep crisis.

A survey by the YouGov institute, reported by the Bloomberg news agency, shows how difficult the situation for the Tories is.

When asked about their intention to vote, 54 percent said they would vote for the opposition Labor Party if the House of Commons were re-elected tomorrow.

The Tories, on the other hand, only get 21 percent.

According to YouGov, this is a historic result.

Labor has never received so much approval in any poll by the institute.

And no British party has had a 33 percentage point lead in the past 20 years.

In addition, less than 40 percent of voters who voted for the Tories in 2019 said they would support the Tories in the upcoming general election.

However, the voting behavior would probably not be exactly reflected in the distribution of seats in Parliament, because in Great Britain there is a majority system and no proportional representation.

Still, the poll won't lift Tories' spirits, on the contrary.

The annual party conference begins on Sunday.

Then Truss' tax package will certainly also be discussed.

Several Tory MPs have already criticized it.

The core of their allegations is that taxes cannot be reduced for the richest, while large parts of the population can barely make ends meet due to inflation and higher living costs.

Truss and her Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, had unveiled plans for the biggest tax cuts in half a century.

This had triggered a tremor in the financial markets, the pound fell to an all-time low against the dollar, the Bank of England announced that it would buy government bonds to stabilize the situation.

The data was collected September 28-29, according to YouGov.

A total of 1712 adults in the UK were surveyed.

ulz