Tory warnings about the dangers of a Labour “super-majority” following the general election have backfired spectacularly, according to a new poll.
The Techne survey showed that they have made a quarter of voters more likely to back Labour on July 4, with a third saying it will make no difference at all.
Defence secretary Grant Shapps was the first senior Conservative to float the possibility of a huge Commons majority more than a fortnight ago.
He said: “You want to make sure that in this next government, whoever forms it, that there’s a proper system of accountability... you don’t want to have somebody receive a super-majority.”
It has since been repeated by numerous top Tories, most recently party chairman Richard Holden.
He told Basildon radio station Gateway 97.8: “It is a difficult election. And I think there is that danger as some of the polls are pointing to a supermajority for the Labour Party.
“And I don’t think any party in power with those sorts of levels of majority. You know, that that can be a bit of a problem for the democratic process.”
However, the Techne poll showed the warnings actually made 26% people say they were more likely to vote Labour, compared to just 13% who said they were now more likely to back the Tories.
A further 9% said they were more likely to vote Reform UK, while 36% said they were “indifferent”.
Overall, the poll put Labour on 42%, a staggering 23 points ahead of the Tories, who are on just 19%, just 2 points ahead of Reform UK on 17%. The Lib Dems are on 12% and the Greens are on 5%.
The poll also suggests that some of the major controversies of the election campaign will have little bearing on how people vote next Thursday.
Just 8% of those surveyed said Rishi Sunak’s decision to leave commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day early has changed how they might vote, with 6% choosing the Tory betting scandal and 2% picking Nigel Farage’s claim that the West “provoked” Vladimir Putin into invading Ukraine.
Meanwhile, fewer than half (42%) say they will vote for the best party fit to govern the country, with nearly a quarter (24%) will opt for “the least worst option” and 9% voting tactically to get rid of the government.