LABOUR is on course to lose dozens of Red Wall seats to the Tories in next week’s local elections, a YouGov poll has revealed.
The survey found key marginals including Dudley, Northumberland and Derby are expected to be won by the Conservatives – whose jab rollout continues to win voters’ support.
Former red strongholds such as Bury, Hyndburn and Lincoln are also likely to fall, as well as threatened majorities in Sheffield, Warrington and Wolverhampton.
The damning YouGov poll found more than half of people asked felt Labour didn’t understand people like them, with just one in five claiming it did.
Asked if Sir Keir was a better leader than Jeremy Corbyn, 40 per cent said he was, but nearly a third thought he’d been neither better nor worse.
Meanwhile, some 48 per cent said Labour would not be able to form a competent government.
The projection suggests Labour would lose 59 seats in the 20 areas identified as Red Wall councils and overall, the model suggests Labour losses would come between a low of 35 and a high of 88 seats.
The Conservatives meanwhile could pick up around 90 extra seats, with an overall range of between 69 and 122 gains.
One senior Labour MP told The Times that Sir Keir would have to consider stepping down if more ground was lost in key areas in the north and midlands.
“If it’s not working he needs to let someone else come in who will make the changes required,” they said.
Meanwhile a Red Wall Tory added: “There is concern among colleagues that if we win Hartlepool, Starmer might quit — and that would be a shame for us.”
JAB SUCCESS
It comes amid overwhelming public support for the Government’s vaccination programme.
One poll, commissioned by the DailyMail, showed some 72 per cent believe ministers have handled it well – almost four times as many as the 19 per cent who believe it could have gone better.
Meanwhile, today’s poll shows that 39 per cent would vote Tory if an election was held tomorrow, with Labour on 38 per cent.
Boris Johnson now has a net favourability rating of minus 7 per cent, the Mail Online reports.
Some 39 per cent have a favourable view of him compared to 46 per cent who do not.
Sir Keir’s favourability rating, however, is minus 4 per cent – the first time he has beaten the PM in the approval ratings since January.
But previous figures showed Labour’s desperate attempts to make capital out of the PM’s cash-for-curtains row is cutting no ice with the public.
Boris Johnson is under attack and faces multiple probes into claims he splurged up to £200,000 on a lavish refurbishment of his official flat at No11 Downing Street.
But Sir Keir’s latest attempts to exploit the situation backfired.
On the campaign trail in Manchester this week he posed for snaps looking at rolls of wallpaper in a local John Lewis store.
He pulled the stunt 24 hours after a fiery Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons where he accused Mr Johnson of “popping out to choose wallpaper” rather than focusing on the country.
But Sir Keir’s ill-advised gag sparked a backlash on Twitter.
Boris faces claims he failed to declare a £58,000 Tory Party loan taken out for his flat refurb.
Along with his girlfriend Carrie Symonds, he is said to have been desperate to bin the “John Lewis furniture nightmare” they inherited from former Prime Minister Theresa May.
Speaking on a trip to a London school, Boris said: “The one thing I object to in this whole farrago of nonsense is, I love John Lewis.
“I don’t think there’s anything to see here or to worry about. But what we are doing is focusing on the stuff that really matters.”
Conservative Party chairman Amanda Milling said: “Today the PM visited a school to see how we are levelling up opportunity, focusing on people’s priorities.
“Keir Starmer is doing exactly what we said he’d do — playing politics.”
