A shock poll today lays bare the scale of the electoral mountain Rishi Sunak must climb on July 4 – with Labour more trusted on all the Tories’ traditional core issues.
Brits have stronger faith in Keir Starmer’s party to deal with legal immigration by 27 per cent to just 20 per cent, according to research for MailOnline.
Alarmingly for Rishi Sunak the gap is even bigger on the topic of Channel boats and illegal arrivals, with Redfield & Wilton Strategies finding the gap is 29 per cent to 19 per cent.
That is despite the PM vowing to force through the Rwanda deportations plan that Sir Keir wants to ditch.
Far from being the party of tough borders, the public now associates the Conservatives with increasing inflows by 32 per cent to 23 per cent. Only Reform is linked to lowering immigration, with 37 per cent perceiving that as its stance.
More than half say they do not trust the Tories ‘at all’ to handle immigration.
Nigel Farage has twisted the knife by challenging Mr Sunak to a TV debate on the issue.
But Mr Sunak’s problems do not stop there. The poll found people have more confidence in Labour to run the economy, by 32 per cent to 24 per cent, and tackle the cost of living crisis – by the same gap.
A shock poll today lays bare the scale of the electoral mountain Rishi Sunak must climb on July 4 – with Labour more trusted on all the Tories’ traditional core issues
Brits have stronger faith in Keir Starmer’s party to deal with legal immigration by 27 per cent to just 20 per cent, according to research for MailOnline
Some 48 per cent do not trust the Tories ‘at all’ on taxation, with the equivalent figure for Labour much lower on 36 per cent.
Labour is more trusted on the NHS, the environment and housing. It even holds narrow leads on the war in Gaza – by 24 per cent to 19 per cent – and Ukraine – by 24 per cent to 22 per cent.
Mr Sunak has trumpeted his commitment to hike defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030, which has not been fully matched by Sir Keir.
The research suggests the public has a tough view on immigration, after the latest figures last week showed net long-term migration running at 685,000 in 2023.
When asked how many people should be allowed to come to the UK long-term per year, 18 per cent indicated it should be fewer than 1,000.
Another 13 per cent said 1,000 to 5,000, 11 per cent said up to 10,000, and 13 per cent below 50,000.
Just 8 per cent supported numbers above 100,000, although 29 per cent said they did not know.
Nearly half of Brits thought the current level of immigration was meeting a ‘real need’.
Nigel Farage has twisted the knife by challenging Mr Sunak to a TV debate on the issue of immigration
People believed inflows were making the country worse off by a margin of 47 per cent to 18 per cent who viewed it as positive.
In one small crumb of comfort for Mr Sunak, the research conducted on Friday found 40 per cent either support or strongly support the Rwanda scheme, with 27 per cent opposed.
But 26 per cent said they were less likely to vote Tory because the premier has admitted the first flights will not take off before July 4.
And while 35 per cent said they wanted the next government to make the Rwanda plan work after the election, 38 per cent backed replacing it with a ‘more workable scheme’.
