Corbynistas are curiously quiet this morning about the latest YouGov poll, which puts Theresa May narrowly ahead of the Labour leader for the first time since June. 42 per cent of voters back the Tories, with 41 per cent saying they would vote for Labour. May’s success in securing a deal with the EU in the first stage of Brexit talks seems to be the clear reason for this latest small boost. For a government low on confidence and on the back of a difficult year, it is a welcome sign. But this lead, which falls within the margin of error in polling, is nothing for the Tories to really cheer about. Indeed it still shows that the party is down on its support from the snap election, when it secured 42.4 per cent of the vote. The YouGov survey also gives another reason for the Tories to be troubled.
Michael Gove said that last week’s agreement was a victory for the Prime Minister and amounted to a ‘significant personal achievement’ for May. Not many voters seem to agree with the environment secretary. More than double the number of people still think the government is handling Brexit badly: 57 per cent told YouGov that ministers were not doing a good job; only a quarter thought that things were going swimmingly.
In the days after one of Theresa May’s best weeks in office (admittedly in an uncrowded field), you might expect voters to be more positive about the government’s performance. Instead, this poll is a sign that even when things appear to be going well, voters are unlikely to give the government much credit. It should also caution the Tories against engaging in the kind of backslapping for the PM which greeted last week’s deal. This survey shows that most voters don’t actually care all that much about the intricate wranglings between Britain and the EU. They just want the government to get on with it and not mess things up. But even if they manage that, they probably shouldn’t expect much in the way of thanks if this survey is anything to go on.
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