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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Ashley Cowburn

Labour pulls 36 POINTS ahead of Tories in 'biggest poll lead since 1997'

Labour has a 36-point lead over the Conservatives, according to a staggering new poll.

The survey - conducted after Liz Truss sacked her Chancellor in a bid to save her premiership - showed Labour on 56% and the Tories trailing way behind with the support of just 20% of those polled.

Pollsters Redfield & Wilton Strategies said it is the largest lead for any party since October 1997 - just months after Sir Tony Blair's landslide election victory that ushered in a Labour government.

The bombshell poll dropped hours after the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt tore up the Prime Minister's mini-Budget after weeks of economic turmoil.

Leaving Ms Truss's Tory leadership pledges in tatters, Mr Hunt ditched a cut to income tax next year and cut short universal support for energy bills.

Previous polls have also shown a collapse in support for the Conservatives since the "fiscal event" and a series of U-turns that have left Ms Truss clinging to power.

But a 36-point lead for Labour is the highest the party have recorded since Ms Truss came to office and is likely to reignite calls from Tory MPs for her resignation.

It also came as MPs - debating a petition signed by over 600,000 people - demanded an early general election to "end the chaos of the current government".

Catherine McKinnell - the Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North - said the government has "no mandate for inflicting unconscionable misery on the poorest" over threats for a real-terms cut to benefits.

Charles Walker said an immediate election would be 'electoral suicide' for the Tories (AFP via Getty Images)

"After 12 years in office the country deserves a chance to have their say on this Government and its programme," she demanded.

"What nobody voted for was this chaos caused by a lack of clear mandate that any Government would need to face up to the challenges we have lying ahead."

As some Tory MPs plot to oust Ms Truss from office, the Pontypridd MP Alex Davies-Jones said the governing party was "at war with itself" and lost the public's respect.

She insisted: "We need a general election because changing the figurehead at the top of the party just isn't enough."

But speaking on the BBC's World At One programme, the Tory MP Sir Charles Walker said there would not be an "imminent" general election as it would result in the "electoral suicide" for the Conservatives.

He predicted that if an election were to be held immediately, the Tories would end up with fewer seats than Nicola Sturgeon's SNP.

"We wouldn't even be the party of opposition," he added.

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt also claimed a general election would cause "weeks of disruption and delay".

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