More grim New Year signs for Tories as poll leaves Labor 21 points ahead

There was more New Year’s Eve gloom for the Tories today as a poll showed them 21 points behind Labour.

According to Techne UK’s latest tracker, Keir Starmer’s party extended their lead by four points in the festive fortnight.

Labor support was up one percent to 46 percent while the Conservatives were down three percent to 25 percent.

In a worrying sign for Rishi Sunak, part of the fieldwork for the poll took place after his big speech on Wednesday – although it may have been too early to tell the results.

The Prime Minister hopes his “five promises” by which voters will measure him – including growing the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists and tackling the Channel migrant crisis – can turn the tide.

According to Techne UK’s latest tracker, Keir Starmer’s party extended their lead by four points in the festive fortnight

Trying to get on the front foot in 2023 amid a crippling wave of strikes, Mr Sunak used his speech to acknowledge the massive pressure hospitals are facing and said he was taking “urgent action” to protect services.

He also criticized “misinformation” from unions about strikes and said the government would shortly set out its next step.

The Prime Minister said he hopes he is already starting to gain people’s “trust” after replacing Liz Truss in October.

But despite hopes for a fresh start in the new year, the Tory struggles that dominated 2022 reared their heads again as Mr Sunak was blasted for dropping a series of Boris Johnson’s flagship policies.

Keir Starmer gave his own rival speech yesterday, trying to banish the Corbyn era and woo Brexit voters back when he vowed Labor would no longer pull out the “big government chequebook” to solve problems.

Sir Keir praised the private sector for “creating wealth”. “Everything we say and do is fully charged,” he said.

Alluding to fears he has not “sealed” the deal with voters despite huge poll margins, Sir Keir insisted he will not “rest on our laurels”.

And the Labor leader, who was a staunch Remainer, also tried boldly to hijack the Leave campaign slogan from the EU referendum – promising a ‘Take Back Control Act’ to take power away from Westminster.

Other New Year’s polls have provided similarly miserable snapshots of the Tories’ political standing

Despite Labor enjoying huge poll numbers, there are some signs that support is “soft” and the public is still unconvinced of the leader. One this week showed that Rishi Sunak has overtaken Sir Keir as the preferred option for PM

.

Labor held a stunning 20-point lead overall in Redfield & Wilton research this week.

However, in a glimmer of hope for Mr Sunak, the poll found he had overtaken Sir Keir as the public’s favorite Prime Minister.

The Tory leader was the choice of 38 per cent, compared to 36 per cent for Sir Keir – an obvious sign he is stabilizing the government following Ms Truss’ disastrous tenure.