Gap between Labour and Tories falls to single digits in poll that will shock government

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer issues a statement outside his home in north London, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed his de facto chief-of-staff Dominic Cummings. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA Wire - Credit: PA

The Tory lead over Labour has fallen to single digits in less than a week, a new YouGov survey has revealed.

Last week’s polling by YouGov and the Times found that Boris Johnson enjoyed a 15 point lead over the opposition, despite Labour’s new leader Keir Starmer.

The Tories were on 48% of support compared to Labour’s 33%. But after a weekend of news stories that have rocked the government, the lead is down to just six points.

Fresh polling shows that Labour’s support has jumped by five points to 38%, and Tory support has fallen by four points to 44%.

The Lib Dems remain third on 6%, failing to gain support from the Tories’ failures.


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It comes as separate polling from ComRes also indicated that the government’s approval rating fell by 16 points in just one day over the weekend.

TNE columnist James Ball tweeted: ‘This is not remotely normal. In an election campaign it would be extraordinary.

‘During a global crisis that transcends normal politics it is utterly unprecedented.’

Polling for the Daily Mail by JL Partners also found that 66% of people think Dominic Cummings should resign – with 55% of Tory voters saying he has to go.

A total of 80% of people surveyed think that the senior aide did break lockdown rules, with 61% believing Boris Johnson was protecting his adviser.

The newspaper also found that Starmer closes the gap on who would make the best political leader for the country.

37% believe Johnson would be best – down five points – whereas 34% think Starmer would be better, an increase of seven points.

James Johnson, who founded the polling firm after working for 10 Downing Street, commented: ‘This is the most consistently one-sided political topic I have ever ran a poll on. I expected nuance, there was no nuance. Public completely united in their views’.