Labour has a growing lead over the Conservatives days after Keir Starmer backed the idea of a complete freeze on energy bills this winter. The survey of 2,001 adults put Labour on a 39 per cent to the Tories’ 31 per cent, while it also gave a boost to Keir Starmer, with respondents preferring him to either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak.
The Opinium poll for the Observer newspaper gave Labour an eight point lead while a poll on Saturday for the Times by YouGov showed Keir Starmer’s party enjoying its biggest lead in 10 years, on 43 per cent – 15 points ahead of the Conservatives on 28 per cent.
Opinium found that 62 per cent of people support Labour’s policy of freezing energy bills. About 40 per cent of respondents said they would not be able to afford the rise in the cap due to be announced by the energy regulator Ofgem this week without falling behind on other essential bills.
Labour’s eight point lead in the Opinium poll is its highest score in months, while Starmer has surged well ahead of Liz Truss when voters are asked who would be the best Prime Minister. Two weeks ago 29 per cent of all voters said Truss would be the best PM, against 28 per cent who chose Starmer.
This weekend, Truss has dropped to 23 per cent while Starmer, who announced his price cap policy only last Monday, has increased his score to 31 per cent following Labour’s price cap announcement. When the choice was Starmer versus Sunak, 29 per cent backed Starmer and 23 per cent Sunak.
Truss is the runaway favourite in the contest to be the next Tory party leader and Prime Minister, but her policy of tax cuts as a way to boost the economy has been attacked by senior Tory colleagues.
The former Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke described the Truss approach as “nonsense” and “simplistic” policy that would embed inflation which is already running at over ten per cent.
The criticism came after former Minister Michael Gove issued a warning about Truss’s plans for tax cuts during an economic crisis. He said tax cut would put “the stock options of FTSE 100 executives” before the nation’s poorest people as he backed Sunak for the job of Tory leader and Prime Minister.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, a close ally of Truss who is tipped to be her chancellor, insisted there would be fresh support this winter as energy bills soar.
He wrote in Sunday newspaper: “I understand the deep anxiety this is causing. As winter approaches, millions of families will be concerned about how they are going make ends meet. But I want to reassure the British people that help is coming.”
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