Tories take poll lead over Labour amid internal party rows

Theresa May - Image credit: PA Images

The Conservative Party has taken a lead over Labour in the polls despite both being engulfed in controversial internal splits.

Theresa May’s party has extended a four-point lead over its main rival, according to the latest YouGov poll for The Times, suggesting that the row over anti-Semitism has hit Jeremy Corbyn.

The study will mark welcome news for the Prime Minister however, in a week where senior Tories attempt to deal with tensions over Boris Johnson’s comments on the burka and wider allegations of Islamophobia within the party.

In a major shift from last week when both parties were level, 39 per cent said they would vote Conservative, while Labour has dropped three-points to 35 per cent.

The stat is Labour’s lowest overall score in voting intention since last year’s general election.

In a further blow for Corbyn, he sits on his lowest rating ever on the question of who would make the best prime minister.

May has extended her lead on the question by 14 per cent over Corbyn – a seven point increase from the last poll.

Some 36 per cent said they would choose May for Number 10, up four points, while 22 per cent would choose Corbyn, down three points. But a massive 39 per cent said they did not know.

Elsewhere, 45 per cent said leaving the EU is the wrong thing to do, while 42 per cent said Britain should press ahead with the public’s decision to vote to leave the bloc in 2016.