Ukip polling soaring to unprecedented levels

Poll: Ukip just two per cent behind Tories

Poll: Ukip just two per cent behind Tories

Ukip is now within touching distance of the Conservatives, with the eurosceptic organisation polling just two per cent behind the governing party.

A Survation poll put the Conservatives on 24%, down five points, Labour on 35%, down one point, the Liberal Democrats on 11%, down one point, and Ukip on 22%, up six points.

Because of the oddities of the first-past-the-post electoral system, the poll would give Labour 377 seats, Tories 205 seats, Lib Dems 39 seats and Ukip one seat if replicated at a general election.

The result is likely to worsen the chaotic debate which has dominated the Conservative party after Ukip hugely over-performed in the local elections earlier this month.

There was also strong evidence of a hardening of the public mood against staying in the EU.

The Survation poll put those wanting to stay on 36%, unchanged, and those wanting to leave at 50%, also unchanged. The percentage of people who did not know how they felt stood at 14%.