UK opinion poll tracker: Tories maintain 10-point lead over Labour despite calamitous start to week

The Tories have maintained a strong lead over Labour in the opinion polls, despite a calamitous start to the week.

The Conservatives have clung on to their 10-point lead over their nearest rivals, even after Boris Johnson’s party was dogged by rows and controversies over the course of Monday.

The poll of polls, compiled by the Press Association, shows the Tories staying at 43 per cent, Labour at 33 and the Lib Dems behind at 12.

This means the Tories are still on track to win the general election with their biggest majority since Margaret Thatcher’s more than 30 years ago.

The Brexit Party and the Greens are still down at three per cent, while “other” unspecified parties are up by one point to seven per cent of the vote.

It comes as Mr Johnson continues his blitz of marginal seats in north-west England and northern Wales, hammering home his message to “get Brexit done.”

In a bid to tug on the public’s heartstrings, the PM has appeared in a Love Actually spoof, in which he urges voters to back the Conservatives at the ballot box on Thursday.

But he was described as “uncaring” and an “utter disgrace” on Monday after allegedly refusing to look at a photo of a sick child forced to sleep on a hospital floor.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn launched his own pop culture-inspired campaign video on Monday night, this time set by a festive fireside.

In the clip, which the Labour leader called “surprisingly fun”, he reads out critical and mocking tweets about himself.

The final push in an election campaign can prove crucial to the final results, however comfortably ahead one party may seem.

Mr Johnson has consistently urged voters against complacency, describing another hung parliament as a “clear and present” danger.

The Prime Minister will reiterate this message in a speech in Staffordshire today, during which he will promise to “send in the bulldozers and smash through the gridlock” to deliver Brexit.

“The only way to do that is to vote Conservative,” he is expected to say in a drive against tactical voting.

“Jeremy Corbyn and his Lib Dem, nationalist and Green allies need only 12 more seats than last time to make Jeremy Corbyn prime minister and continue the chaos of a hung parliament. 

“A vote for any of these parties is a vote for further indecision and two more referendums, on Brexit and Scottish independence.”

Mr Corbyn is sticking to his own preferred tack, meanwhile, pushing his avowed defence of the NHS and pledging to bring “justice and equality” to the country.

Speaking outside Blackrod’s community centre in Bolton on Tuesday morning, he said: “We have now got until Thursday night to win this election. Thursday night to save the NHS. Thursday night to end child poverty in Britain. Thursday night to end homelessness in Britain. Thursday night to build the houses that we need. Thursday night to get a government you can trust that will actually represent people.

“I want to live in a country where people don’t have to rely on food banks just to put food on the table. I want to live in a country where young people can look forward with hope and enthusiasm for the future rather than going into debt just because they wanted to get an education.

“You know what, we walk in the traditions of our movement, of our party, those that founded our party, those that fought great battles to get the NHS and so much else.

“And we will go even further than they went because we are inspired by the past and we face the future with absolute determination, one of justice and equality in this country.”

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