The Tory poll lead over Labour in the 100 most rural seats in England has dropped from 39 points at the 2019 general election to just five points in a setback for Rishi Sunak. 

The Conservative Party won 96 of the 100 seats at the last general election, securing 59 per cent of the vote to Labour’s 20 per cent. 

But a Survation survey, conducted in April and published yesterday, put the Tories on 41 per cent of the vote and Labour on 36 per cent. 

The poll found that 71 per cent of 2019 Tory voters in the seats said they intended to vote the same way again. The number for Labour voters was 85 per cent. 

Many of the rural constituencies are Tory strongholds and the significant narrowing in the poll lead over Labour is likely to spark fears of damaging Conservative losses in the party’s traditional heartlands at the next election.

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