Poll shows record lead for Tories one month out from election

Theresa May's Conservative Party seems as if it could be romping to victory with one month to go until the general election, as an ICM poll shows it possesses a record lead over Labour.

Voters will head to the polls on 8 June as May seeks to cement a mandate for a hard Brexit while the UK enters negotiations with the EU for its departure from the bloc.

The poll was conducted in the aftermath of last week’s local council elections, in which the Tories made significant gains over their opposing parties.

The Conservatives were marked by ICM as having a 22-point lead over Labour, as Jeremy Corbyn struggles to overcome long-held divisions within the party.

May’s party was said to currently have 49% of the vote, according to the poll carried out by ICM alongside The Guardian. Labour has fallen one point to 27%, leaving a record gap between the two main parties according to the pollster.

HARD OR SOFT BREXIT?

Following the victory of Emmanuel Macron in the final round of presidential elections in France on Sunday, all eyes will now go towards the UK in the next month to see if the Tories can increase their parliamentary majority.

Chris Iggo from AXA Investment Managers believes that the result of the election will have a significant bearing on the outcome of the Brexit deal, and as a result, financial markets.

Iggo said: "The view is that the larger the majority for Mrs. May, the better the chance she has of securing a "soft-Brexit" as the hard-liners in her party will be outnumbered by those that want a "good deal" for Britain.

"That seems an outcome that would sit most comfortably with financial markets as it would leave open the possibility that, over time, trade relations with European countries would not be disturbed too much."