Tories get ‘Boris bounce’ in polls but pledge to focus on Brexit
The Conservatives have received a ‘Boris bounce’ in the polls just days after picking their new leader and prime minister.
Read more: Boris Johnson ‘absolutely’ rules out pre-Brexit general election
New PM Boris Johnson has earned the Tories a 10 point jump in a poll for the Mail on Sunday, and a six point boost in a Sunday Times poll.
According to the Mail on Sunday, the Tories now stand on 30 per cent, Labour on 25 per cent, the Lib Dems on 18 per cent, and the Brexit Party on 14 per cent.
In the Sunday Times poll, 31 per cent of respondents said they would vote Conservative, 21 per cent said Labour, 20 per cent would choose the Lib Dems, and 13 per cent would pick the Brexit Party.
Yet chief secretary to the Treasury, Rishi Sunak, today said on Sky News that the party was not preparing for an election and was instead focused on delivering Brexit.
The polls come after Johnson brutally axed most of ex-PM Theresa May’s cabinet and installed leading Brexiteers in key posts, such as Dominic Raab as foreign secretary and Priti Patel as home secretary.
Johnson hopes this team of committed Leavers can push through Brexit “come what may” by 31 October.
In a speech in Manchester yesterday, Johnson extolled his Brexit vision, calling it a “massive economic opportunity”.
He said Brexit would mean the UK could “rid ourselves of bureaucratic red tape, create jobs, untangle the creativity and innovation for which Britain is famous”.
However, Johnson’s Brexit plans could be in danger with the Conservative parliamentary majority, which relies on an alliance with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), under threat.
The majority fell to just two last week when Tory MP Charlie Elphicke was kicked out of the parliamentary party after being charged with sexually assaulting two women.
It is expected to drop to only one this Thursday after the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, which was triggered triggered when Tory Chris Davies was ousted by his constituents for submitting false expenses claims.
According to the Sunday Times, 43 per cent of those surveyed think Britain will by out of the EU by 31 October, while 30 per cent think it will still be a member.
Read more: Ireland’s foreign minister hits out at Boris Johnson’s ‘very unhelpful’ Brexit approach
On Johnson himself, 55 per cent had a negative view and 34 per cent saw him positively, with 11 per cent not committing either way.