New polling has indicated that the Conservatives are in for a crushing defeat in the Wakefield by-election amid reports Boris Johnson could face a vote on his future as soon as next week.
The Prime Minister secured his majority of about 80 seats at the 2019 general election off the back of scalps in the so-called Red Wall – traditional Labour-supporting areas in the North of England, the Midlands and Wales which voted Tory, inspired by Mr Johnson’s promise of delivering Brexit. But with Wakefield scheduled to go to the polls on June 23 to elect a new MP after former Tory incumbent Imran Ahmad Khan was found guilty of sexually assaulting a boy, fresh polling is likely to make for worrying reading in the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ).
A survey by JL Partners, and reported in the Sunday Times, gives Labour a 20-point lead over the Tories in Wakefield, a constituency which before the 2019 result had consistently voted for a candidate wearing a red rosette since the 1930s. The poll puts Labour on 48% and the Tories on 28%, down by 19 points.
