Is Rishi Sunak starting to win over voters? New poll sees Labour's lead over the Tories cut to just 10 points after series of announcements on Brexit, Channel migrants and the economy

  • A Deltapoll survey today put the Conservatives up eight points on 35 points
  • Party's highest rating since Liz Truss's disastrous mini-Budget last September

By David Wilcock, Deputy Political Editor For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Labour's lead over the Tories has been slashed by 13 points as Rishi Sunak appears to be winning over voters disenchanted by the Tory chaos of the past year.

A Deltapoll survey today put the Conservatives up eight points on 35 points, their highest since Liz Truss's disastrous mini-Budget last September.

It puts them 10 points behind Labour, who have dropped five points in the past week.

It comes after the Tories relaunched their immigration policy to sent Channel migrants to Rwanda, sparking a high profile row with Gary Lineker and the BBC.

But in a sign that might give pause to rebellious Tory backbenchers it also comes after Jeremy Hunt's softly-softly Budget last week, and the PM's Windsor Framework to solve the Brexit impasse over Northern Ireland.

Mr Sunak's personal approval rating has also improved from -11 to -9, while Sir Keir Starmer's has fallen from 12 to seven, the poll found. 

A recent Deltapoll survey put the Conservatives up eight points on 35 points, their highest since Liz Truss's disastrous mini-Budget last September

A Deltapoll survey today put the Conservatives up eight points on 35 points, their highest since Liz Truss's disastrous mini-Budget last September.

 

It comes after the Tories relaunched their immigration policy to sent Channel migrants to Rwanda, sparking a high profile row with Gary Lineker and the BBC.

 It comes after the Tories relaunched their immigration policy to sent Channel migrants to Rwanda, sparking a high profile row with Gary Lineker and the BBC.

It came as a Tiry poeer and polling expert said Rishi Sunak appears to be 'pulling up' the Tories' poll ratings while Boris Johnson remains a 'serious negative' for most voters.

Lord Hayward said the party was not 'out of the woods' but there were signs of progress ahead of crucial council elections in England next month.

In a pre-election presentation for journalists, he said that while voters had not forgotten the 'partygate' scandal, it was having a 'diminishing' impact on perceptions of the Conservatives.

His analysis comes ahead of the former prime minister's keenly awaited appearance on Wednesday before the Commons Privileges Committee, which is investigating whether he misled Parliament over No 10 parties during lockdown.

Mr Johnson has made clear he is determined to contest the charges, raising hopes among diehard supporters of an improbable political comeback.

However Lord Hayward suggested that would not go down well with voters.

'He is a serious negative for most people,' he said. 'People have moved away from Boris in numbers. Boris's polling is far worse than is the case for Rishi.'

In contrast, Lord Hayward said that recent council by-election results suggested something of an upturn in the Tories' fortunes under Mr Sunak.

While he said he still expected the Conservatives would lose seats in May, he would not expect the losses to be as great as if the elections had been held a few weeks ago.

'He (Mr Sunak) may be pulling the Tory party up. What seems to be happening is, the longer he is in as Prime Minister the less of an impact Boris/partygate is having,' he said.

'The population have not parked partygate. They still view it as a Tory party matter but they are viewing it as a Boris matter,' Lord Hayward said.

'Rishi gets a much, much higher rating as competent than Boris. He gets a much higher rating as trustworthy than Boris so there is some cut-through

'I think the impact is diminishing of Boris in terms of the Conservative brand. It is still there but it is diminishing.'

Rishi SunakGary LinekerBBCLiz Truss

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