Tory turmoil as third of voters desert party and factions launch rival manifestoes

Rishi Sunak and wife Akshata Murty arriving in Manchester on the eve of the Conservative party conference. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The coalition of voters that delivered the Tories a big majority at the last election is crumbling, according to dramatic new evidence that the party is losing support in key battlegrounds across England.

The findings, revealed in a special poll of 2019 Tory voters for the Observer, comes as Rishi Sunak faces a series of competing and contradictory demands from warring Tory factions ahead of the party’s conference in Manchester.