UK Conservatives set for 1997-style election wipeout, poll suggests
- Labour leader Keir Starmer is currently on track to become Britain’s next prime minister
- Labour could win a 120-seat majority, leaving Tories with as few as 169 seats, poll suggests
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party is set for an electoral defeat on a par with its heavy loss to the Labour Party in 1997, according to a YouGov opinion poll published in the Telegraph newspaper.
Ahead of an election expected later in 2024, the poll predicted Labour was on course to win 385 seats in parliament while the Conservatives will retain just 169, losing more seats than they did in 1997.
That would represent an 11.5 per cent swing to Keir Starmer’s Labour, the biggest collapse in support for a governing party since 1906, the newspaper said.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt could be one of 11 Cabinet ministers to lose their seats, according to the newspaper.
Among the other top Tories said to be on course to lose their seats are Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt and Attorney General Victoria Prentis.