Johnson’s Conservatives Shed Support in Swing Seats, Poll Shows

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K.’s ruling Conservatives are 16 percentage points behind the opposition Labour Party in the “red wall” of traditionally Labour-voting constituencies in northern England the Tories flipped at the last election.

According to a poll of voters, Labour had 49% support to 33% for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s party in all 57 of the districts the Conservatives won over in 2019.  

When asked specifically about their national voting intentions, 40% favored the opposition, while 35% kept with the Conservatives. Deltapoll said the Tories stood to lose more than 100 seats if the survey results were replicated in a general election.

The results come almost two years into the bruising coronavirus pandemic, and follow a series of scandals, including over parties that government insiders held in the run up to Christmas 2020, when U.K. families had been told not to gather together to celebrate the holiday. 

Only one-in-six respondents felt Johnson had personally followed the social distancing rules his government imposed on the nation.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak was favored by Deltapoll respondents to become party chief, should Johnson face a leadership challenge from restive Tories.

The survey of 1,567 British adults was carried out Dec. 23-30 by Deltapoll for the Daily Mail. No margin of error was provided.

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