Britain’s Labour Party is set to win a record number of seats and the incumbent Conservative Party is set to suffer a historic defeat in July’s general election, according to two opinion polls.
With voters heading to the polls in just over two weeks, the latest national survey by YouGov and Savanta/Electral Calculus shows Labour on track to win 425 or 516 of the 650 seats.
Either outcome would be the largest number of parliamentary seats the current opposition party has ever won in a general election.
READ ALSO | Snap Poll: UK’s surprise election announcement
Meanwhile, two opinion polls have predicted an unprecedented drop in support for the Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010, and that it will win just 53 seats.
Savanta and the Election Calculation Survey The Daily Telegraph The paper predicted that Rishi Sunak would become the first sitting British prime minister to lose his seat in a general election.
Opinion polls predict that Sunak’s government will lose three-quarters of its seats, giving Labour a majority of 382 seats – more than double the number held by former prime minister Tony Blair in 1997.
It also found that the centrist Liberal Democrats are just three behind the Conservatives with 50 seats, while the Scottish National Party has lost dozens of seats north of the English border.
A record defeat for the Conservative Party?
A YouGov poll predicted that Mr Sunak’s party would win just 108 constituencies.
This is 32 points lower than predicted two weeks ago and reflects just how badly the Conservative campaign has performed.
Opinion polls predict the Conservative Party will win 108 seats, which would be the party’s lowest number of seats in the nearly 200 years that it has stood in British elections.
Sunak is widely seen as having run a lackluster and error-ridden campaign, which included coming under near-universal criticism for leaving early the country to mark the anniversary of the Normandy landings in France earlier this month.
In contrast, Labour leader Keir Starmer, who would become prime minister if his party wins on July 4, is playing it safe and seeking to protect his party’s lead in the opinion polls.
YouGov also noted that anti-EU populist Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party is set to win five seats, including Clacton in the east of England, where the Brexit campaign leader is standing.
Farage has said that if he is elected and the Conservatives perform poorly in the July 4 election, he will try to absorb what remains of the party.
This is a premium article available only to our subscribers. To read over 250 premium articles every month,
You’ve reached your limit for free articles. Support quality journalism.
You’ve reached your limit for free articles. Support quality journalism.
You have read {{data.cm.views}} from {{data.cm.maxViews}} Free articles.
This is the last free article.