Poll puts Lib Dems ahead in key marginal seat for Labour

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson and fellow MPs take a walk on Bournemouth beach as part of conference. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images) - Credit: Getty Images

Newly-released polling has put the Liberal Democrats ahead in a key marginal seat for the Labour Party.

Survation polling shows that the Lib Dems are ahead in the seat of Portsmouth South – a seat that Labour narrowly secured in the general election in 2017.

In the poll the Lib Dems are leading with 30% of support – up 13% compared to the last election.

The Conservatives are in second place with 27% of the vote, while the Labour Party is down to third place with 24% of support, and down 17% on the last election.

Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is in fourth place with 14% of the support.

The polling has spooked both the Labour Party and the Tories, with the Conservatives complaining that the Brexit Party is stopping the governing party from taking a seat off Labour.

A win for the Lib Dems in this seat would be the third change for constituents in just four years – with the Tories winning the seat off the Lib Dems in 2015, and Labour winning the seat off the Tories in 2017.