UK mega-poll: Conservatives on course for 68-seat majority
Boris Johnson’s Conservative party is on course to secure a thumping victory in next month’s election, according to a highly-anticipated poll published this evening.
Were the election held tomorrow, the Prime Minister would defeat Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in dramatic fashion, returning to Downing Street on 12 December with a 68-seat majority.
A comprehensive seat-by-seat poll by YouGov, which correctly predicted that Theresa May would lose her majority in 2017, shows Johnson could end up with 359 seats, while Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour could finish with 211 seats.
Troubles for Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats were also underlined in the findings, with the pro-Remain party currently set to increase their number of MPs by just one to 13 seats.
Meanwhile, the Scottish National Party would win 43 seats, securing a further eight seats.
“Labour’s red wall is crumbling”, the polling company said, with the Tories set to pick up 44 seats from Labour including Tom Watson’s vacated seat and Caroline Flint’s Don Valley seat.
However, with two weeks still to go until voting day, the extent to which Johnson is beating Corbyn is still up for grabs, with several new surveys suggesting the gap between the two sides is narrowing.
Tonight’s YouGov polling comes after weeks of tussling between the two main parties, with the latest explosive row emerging yesterday over the fate of drug pricing and the NHS under a potential US-UK trade deal.
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Hours before the poll was released, Johnson’s colourful and contentious adviser Dominic Cummings penned a lengthy analysis of the state of the campaign, warning that the election is “much tighter” than polls suggest.
According to the Yougov poll, independents such as Anna Soubry, David Gauke and Dominic Grieve are all set to lose their seats.
The three Labour defectors are also struggling, with Chuka Umunna 13 points behind in Cities of London and Westminster, Luciana Berger 18 points back in Finchley and Golders Green, and Angela Smith trailing by 33 points in Altrincham and Sale West.