LONDON, Oct 9 — Britain's opposition Labour Party has a huge opinion poll lead over Prime Minister Liz Truss' Conservative Party, which has failed to stage a recovery after its annual conference this week, polls showed yesterday.
A YouGov survey of 1,737 British adults, carried out on Thursday and Friday for The Times newspaper, showed support for Labour at 52 per cent, down two points from a poll by the same organisation in late September, while the Conservatives were up just one point at 22 per cent.
A separate poll by Opinium of 2,023 people conducted between Wednesday and Friday gave Labour a 47-26 per cent lead over the Conservatives, the largest Labour lead ever recorded by Opinium.
Truss spoke on Wednesday at her first party conference since becoming Conservative leader in early September and she defended her decision to cut taxes which sharply pushed up the cost of borrowing and split her own party.
However, Truss and her finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng were forced to drop one of the more controversial measures earlier in the week. It would have scrapped the top rate of income tax.
Labour leader Keir Starmer held a commanding lead — of 43 per cent versus 13 per cent — over Truss in terms of the party leader who voters thought would make the best prime minister, YouGov said.
The Opinium poll showed 53 per cent of respondents thought Truss should resign as prime minister and 61 per cent thought there should be a national election this year.
Britain's next election is expected to take place in 2024. — Reuters
