Theresa May’s Conservative government maintains support despite recent upheaval within the party
Jeremy Corbyn still has not been able to overtake the Tories in the polls, despite the Government’s recent woes.
Labour and the Tories remain locked in a dead heat, even though commentators claim the opposition should be 20 points clear by now.
An ICM poll for the Guardian put both parties neck-and-neck on 41 per cent, each down one point compared to three weeks ago. The parties have now been tied in five consecutive surveys conducted by the pollster since September.
The result is a boost to Downing Street as it shows no evidence of voters turning their backs on Theresa May following a difficult fortnight, which has seen two ministers forced out of her Cabinet.
The poll of 2,010 adults was conducted between Friday and Sunday, days after Priti Patel resigned as international development secretary last Wednesday.
It put the Liberal Democrats on seven per cent, Ukip on four per cent and Green on two per cent.
ICM director Martin Boon said: ‘Tony Blair casually observed last week that Labour should be doing better in the polls, given the government’s current travails, for which he received a certain amount of opprobrium.
‘But he’s right about one thing – the polls are not moving. Indeed, the current stasis is no better reflected than by the observation that the stretch of neck-and-neck standings has reached five consecutive polls.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party was expected to gain ground at the Tories’ expense, according to commentators
‘Only one more such poll is needed to match the record of six in the ICM/Guardian series, when Labour’s (then) 5-point lead in August 2003 did not waver until the following February.’
Mr Blair at the weekend praised how Mr Corbyn had run the general election campaign, but warned the party’s popularity was way behind where it should be.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I pay tribute to the campaign he ran, I think he showed a lot of character in the way he ran that campaign. He’s generated a lot of enthusiasm. I buy all of that.
‘It’s important and salutary for us to remember this government is in a greater degree of mess than any government I can remember.
‘Even in the 1990s the Tory government was a paragon of stability compared with this and yet we are a couple of points ahead and, I think I’m right that he’s not yet ahead of her as prime minister.
‘So, I pay tribute to all of that but I still say come on guys, we should be 15, 20 points ahead at this stage.’