Conservative lead over Labour shrinking ahead of General Election, polls show

A brace of new General Election polls have shown the Conservative lead over Labour shrinking as the June 8 vote approaches.

An Opinium poll for The Observer found the Tory advantage had fallen from 13 to 10 points over the past week, with Theresa May's party on 45% (down one point), with Labour on 35% (up two), Liberal Democrats on 7% (down one) and Ukip on 5% (unchanged).

Meanwhile, a ComRes survey for the Sunday Mirror and Independent showed the gap between the parties narrowing from 18 to 12 points over the past fortnight, with Tories on 46% (down two), Labour on 34% (up four), Lib Dems on 8% (down two) and Ukip 5% (unchanged)

Although the results are less dramatic than Friday's YouGov survey, which found the Conservative advantage squeezed to just five points, they tally with the trend in a number of polls which have shown Labour gaining on the Tories after having begun the election race as much as 25 points adrift.

The Opinium poll, taken after Monday's suicide bomb in Manchester, also found Mrs May's approval ratings had slumped from plus-17 to plus-11 over the week, while Mr Corbyn's rose from minus-18 to minus-11.

The ComRes poll found Mrs May was rated best leader to keep Britain safe from terrorism, by a margin of 42% to 16% for Mr Corbyn. But her ratings on this and almost every other measure had declined over the fortnight since the questions were last asked, while the Labour leader's had improved.

Labour was preferred by a margin of 42% to 37% for having the "best policies for people like me and my family". But 51% said that Mrs May would make a better PM, compared to 30% for Mr Corbyn.

The Prime Minister was seen as best choice to represent Britain on the world stage, lead negotiations on Brexit and reduce net migration, while Mr Corbyn was rated best to improve the NHS, look after the interests of hard-working families and protect older people.

:: Opinium questioned 2,002 people from May 23 to 24.

:: ComRes interviewed 2,024 adults from May 24 to 26.

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