Labour support in ‘red wall’ seats soars to 61%

Labour has stormed into a 38-point lead over the Conservatives in the crucial “red wall” seats crucial to Boris Johnson’s electoral success in the 2019 general election.

Support for Sir Keir Starmer’s party has soared to 61 per cent in the north of England and Midlands constituencies, while Liz Truss’s party has slumped to just 23 per cent.

The Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll found a remarkable 23-point swing to Sir Keir’s party in the former Labour heartlands since the firm’s last survey just two weeks ago.

It is the latest confirmation of the disastrous impact of chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget and the market turmoil sparked by Ms Truss’s economic push for borrowing-fuelled tax cuts.

Since YouGov poll found Labour taking a 33-point lead, several other pollsters have found leads over 25 points.

Polling guru Sir John Curtice said Mr Starmer’s party was currently heading for a landslide majority in parliament of more than 100.

He said the market turmoil had caused “very serious electoral damage” to the Tory party’s standing over the past week, and Ms Truss is now “just as unpopular” as Mr Johnson at the height of Partygate.

Ms Truss was struggling to maintain cabinet discipline as Conservative critics who forced her U-turn on slashing income tax for the highest earners were accused of a “coup”.

Home secretary Suella Braverman said she was “disappointed” by Mr Kwarteng and Ms Truss’s mid-conference tax U-turn – and accused Tory rebels like Michael Gove of staging a successful “coup” on the issue.

Kemi Badenoch criticised Ms Braverman for her “inflammatory” suggestion that Tory MPs had staged a “coup”. But Ms Badenoch said she had “been shouting” at Mr Gove since his rebellion on the 45p top tax rate.

It comes as members of the cabinet – including Penny Mordaunt and Robert Buckland – publicly urged the PM to raise benefits in line with inflation.

Amid the chaos, former cabinet minister Grant Shapps said Tory MPs will not “sit on their hands” on removing Ms Truss as leader should “the polls continue as they are”.

The former transport secretary said there was a “window of opportunity” to turn things around – but warned that “a way would be found” to change the leader again if needed.

Mr Shapps also suggested on the NewsAgent podcast that the PM had as little as 10 days to save her premiership.

One Tory MP told The Independent that Ms Truss had only a “very, very narrow window” to turn things around with the party.

The backbencher said MPs would start discussing how she could be replaced when they return to parliament next week if she keeps “fighting” them on the issue of uprating benefits and “fails to engage”.

Senior MP Mark Harper pleaded for “discipline” from the government after another chaotic day of rows and confusion. “We cannot have a situation like we’ve seen today,” the former chief whip told a fringe event.

Mr Harper said: “[We’ve seen] various cabinet ministers challenging the authority of the prime minister, government policy changing several times, and cabinet ministers … then criticising backbenchers for having the temerity to have an opinion.”

He added: “If that’s how we’re going to carry on, it isn’t going to work.”