LONDON: Conservatives face a wipe-out worse than the one in 1997 when Tony Blair rose to power, according to the latest YouGov poll in the UK.
YouGov projects that the Tories will win just 155 seats in the next general election, under UK PM Rishi Sunak, which is 210 seats less than the 365 seats the Tories won in 2019 with Boris Johnson at the helm.
Labour is projected to win 403 seats, almost double the 202 seats it won in 2019, with a majority of 154 seats.
In 1997, Blair won a landslide with 418 seats and a 179 majority under a rebranded ‘New Labour’ platform, ousting the Conservatives led by John Major, ending 18 years of Tory rule stemming back to Margaret Thatcher’s time.
Sunak is now heading for a worse result than Major’s 165 seats.
He has said the election will take place in the second half of this year. But the YouGov polling, based on interviews with 18,761 adults, shows his party’s electoral fortunes are getting worse, rather than better, as in January the Tories were projected to win 169 seats.
The tidal wave would sweep away many Tory grandees including chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Maidenhead, the seat of former UK PM Theresa May, which has been Conservative since its creation, is projected to swing to the Lib Dems, whilst Uxbridge, the former seat of Boris Johnson, is expected to swing to Labour.
The Scottish National Party, under Humza Yousaf, whose recent hate crime act has provoked widespread condemnation, is expected to lose 29 seats from the 48 it won in 2019, with Labour forecast to become the largest party in Scotland winning 28 seats to the SNP’s 19.
Reform UK, which arose out of the Brexit party, of which Nigel Farage is honorary president, is now coming second in 36 constituencies. Although it is not projected to win a single seat, it is splitting the Conservative vote.
Some Tory MPs are plotting to oust Sunak and change leader before the general election, particularly if the local elections on 2 May are catastrophic.
YouGov projects that the Tories will win just 155 seats in the next general election, under UK PM Rishi Sunak, which is 210 seats less than the 365 seats the Tories won in 2019 with Boris Johnson at the helm.
Labour is projected to win 403 seats, almost double the 202 seats it won in 2019, with a majority of 154 seats.
In 1997, Blair won a landslide with 418 seats and a 179 majority under a rebranded ‘New Labour’ platform, ousting the Conservatives led by John Major, ending 18 years of Tory rule stemming back to Margaret Thatcher’s time.
Sunak is now heading for a worse result than Major’s 165 seats.
He has said the election will take place in the second half of this year. But the YouGov polling, based on interviews with 18,761 adults, shows his party’s electoral fortunes are getting worse, rather than better, as in January the Tories were projected to win 169 seats.
The tidal wave would sweep away many Tory grandees including chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Maidenhead, the seat of former UK PM Theresa May, which has been Conservative since its creation, is projected to swing to the Lib Dems, whilst Uxbridge, the former seat of Boris Johnson, is expected to swing to Labour.
The Scottish National Party, under Humza Yousaf, whose recent hate crime act has provoked widespread condemnation, is expected to lose 29 seats from the 48 it won in 2019, with Labour forecast to become the largest party in Scotland winning 28 seats to the SNP’s 19.
Reform UK, which arose out of the Brexit party, of which Nigel Farage is honorary president, is now coming second in 36 constituencies. Although it is not projected to win a single seat, it is splitting the Conservative vote.
Some Tory MPs are plotting to oust Sunak and change leader before the general election, particularly if the local elections on 2 May are catastrophic.