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The Tories appeared to be on the brink of catastrophe in the general election as a new poll gave Nigel Farage’s Reform UK a three-point lead.
The Whitestone poll for Reach plc newspapers put Reform on 21 per cent, the Tories on just 18 per cent while Labour maintained a clear lead on 38 per cent.
The devastating result for Mr Sunak means that the position of leader of the opposition, which Mr Farage covets, appears to be wide open.
However, according to Electoral Calculus in a general election this would leave the Conservatives on a mere 50 seats, give Reform 29 but the Lib Dems would be the official opposition with 74 seats.
The shock poll comes despite a string of scandals to hit Reform and Mr Farage over the last week.
Just last night Channel 4 released footage of a Reform canvasser in in Clacton, where Farage hopes to become the MP, caught making racial slurs against the prime minister Rishi Sunak.
This followed a candidate stepping away from the party for historic comments praising Hitler and Mr Farage himself being accused of “appeasing Vladimir Putin” by blaming the west for the invasion of Ukraine.
But the poll reveals that anger against the Tories among their traditional supporters appears to be continuing to fuel Reform’s march up the poll rankings.
The gambling scandal which has engulfed the Tories appears to have had a much greater impact on voters.
Mr Farage has claimed that his party is ahead of the Conservatves everywhere outside London and Scotland.
Lachlan Rurlander, a consultant at Whitestone Insight said: “With one week to go until polling day, these results suggest that the job of leader of the opposition is all to play for.
“Reform UK have managed to sustain some momentum and have achieved a three-point lead over the Conservatives, despite what has widely been seen as a difficult week for Nigel Farage.”
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