The Labour Party hit the joint-lowest level of support in polling history this week after a YouGov/Times poll put Jeremy Corbyn’s party in fourth place with just 18 per cent of the vote.
The Conservatives took a lead in the polls at 24 per cent followed by the Brexit Party on 23 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 20 per cent.
Labour polled under 20 per cent for the first time since polling started in the 1940s.
The only other time it hit such lows was in May 2009 while Gordon Brown’s government dealt with the financial crisis.
Speculation that Corbyn’s Brexit strategy and handling of antisemitism in the party is harming their profile with the general public has arose following the results.
Just a quarter of Remain voters will now back Labour compared to 48 per cent at the start of the year.
Eight per cent of Leave voters would now support Labour, down from 21 per cent in January.
Stephen Bush, Political editor at the New Statesman, pointed out that “as polls consistently show, there are four parties on around a quarter of a vote, Electoral Calculus projections cannot tell you what outcome that would produce when plugged into our electoral system”.
Still, the results should come as a wake-up call for Labour, who have failed to take advantage of the chaos engulfing the Conservative Party.
