Polls on UK election suggest PM Theresa May could boost majority in parliament
Of six polls published on Wednesday, two showed the Conservatives widening their lead over Labour, two showed a narrowing and two were unchanged
Prime Minister Theresa May is on course to increase her majority in parliament in Britain’s election on Thursday, opinion polls showed, suggesting her gamble to call the vote to bolster her position in Brexit negotiations will pay off.
May has seen her once-commanding lead over the Labour Party and its veteran hard-left leader Jeremy Corbyn narrow sharply since she surprised almost everyone by calling a snap election in April.
Of six polls published on Wednesday, two showed the Conservatives widening their lead over Labour, two showed a narrowing and two were unchanged.
But they mostly suggested she would increase the small majority she inherited from David Cameron last year, shortly after the surprise referendum decision to take Britain out of the European Union.
Polling firm ICM said Conservatives’ wide lead of 46 per cent to 34 per cent for Labour would give May a majority of 96 seats, up sharply from the working majority of 17 she has had until now and bigger than any Conservative majority since the days when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.
The Independent newspaper said the 44-34 lead for the Conservatives in a poll it commissioned from ComRes would give May a majority of 74.
