Tories widen lead with 47% support – Ipsos Mori

The Conservative party now enjoys the largest lead over Labour since before the 2010 election, pollster Ipsos Mori said on Wednesday, despite a slump in economic optimism in the wake of the Brexit vote. Tory voting intentions now stand at 47 per cent, against Labour at 29 per cent, the LibDems at 7 per cent and Ukip at 6 per cent.

Ipsos Mori said 53 per cent of respondents to its survey said they thought the economy would deteriorate over the next year, up from 37 per cent in September. More than half said they thought the drop in the pound was bad for the country, while 14 per cent thought it was a good thing and 26 per cent said they thought it would make no difference.

Almost half said they thought their standard of living would deteriorate as a result of the Brexit vote, well up from 36 per cent in July.

The pollster said:

Those who see Brexit as worse for their standard of living are more likely to be from groups that supported ‘Remain’ in the referendum. More than half (55%) of ABC1s see their Brexit as bad for their standard of living compared with two in five (40%) of C2DEs. Similarly, those with a degree are also more worried with two in three (64%) thinking things will get worse for them compared with a third (32%) of those without a qualification. Young people are also more worried, at 58% of 18-34s vs 36% of those aged 55+.

Ipsos Mori’s head of political research Gideon Skinner said:

Economic optimism had been recovering after the shock of Brexit, but this research shows that a fall in the value of the pound will still concern the public… But Labour so far is not taking advantage, as the Conservatives’ honeymoon continues – for the moment at least.