Brexit frustration: Support for Tories hits 5-year low as Labour, anti-EU parties surge
UK’s opposition Labour Party as well as groups supporting a clean break from the European Union (EU) are surging in the polls as a failure of the Conservative government to deliver Brexit has led to huge frustration in the country.
Ratings and polls published on Sunday showed that support for the ruling Conservative Party of Prime Minister Theresa May was at its lowest in five years as the government struggled to go through the parliament with a Brexit deal opposed by both the pro-EU Labour and fierce Eurosceptics.
A poll by Opinium covered in the Observer said that support for Tories had fallen to 29 percent, down six percentage points compared to a fortnight ago.
Tory defections on rise
That comes as Stephen Dorrell, a pro-EU conservative lawmaker and a former senior minister, announced his resignation from the party on Sunday and said he would join a group of other Tory and Labour defectors who sit in the House of Commons as independent MPs.
Dorrell said the reason for his resignation was a surge in nationalist views in a party that has ruled Britain for the past nine years.
Kenneth Clarke, the former chancellor under Tory government, is also believed to be mulling his defection.
The Observer said it had obtained a recording of Clarke saying that he would resign from the ruling party if May is replaced by an extremist anti-EU leader. The veteran politician has also said that he would join the Change UK if he defects.
Corbyn on path to replace May
Meanwhile, an analysis of various polls by the Sunday Telegraph showed that the Tories would lose nearly 60 seats in a potential snap election that could come over May’s failure to deliver on Brexit.
The poll said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would have a high chance of entering the Number 10 Downing Street because his party would be the largest in the Commons after a general election as many conservative supporters would vote for nationalist parties like the UK Independence Party (UKIP) or the newly-launched Brexit Party run by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage.
Britain has managed to secure a fresh delay to Brexit until the end of October. Political parties are now preparing themselves for the European elections in May which they say could serve as a second referendum on Brexit.
The government has indicated that Britain could still leave the EU before those elections if the two main parties could reach a compromise on a Brexit agreement in the next couple of weeks.
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