Who will win General Election as ballot predicts Labour will annihilate Tories

The Tories are set to be annihilated by Labour despite the party managing to claw back some voters at the last minute.

On the eve of the General Election, the final Mirror poll of the campaign shows Rishi Sunak is taking support back from Reform UK.

The Conservatives have overtaken Nigel Farage’s party to reclaim second place, rising three points in the past week to 21%. Reform UK is down three points to 18%. Labour remains steady on 38%, giving it a 17 point lead.

It is the narrowest gap between the two main parties during the six-week campaign. Labour has been 20 points ahead in every one of our previous weekly polls, apart from one three weeks ago that showed a 22 point lead.

Our survey, conducted by Whitestone Insight, found just 7% think the Tories have run a successful election campaign, compared to 30% who said Labour. Asked who has fresh ideas for the country, 26% said the Opposition with only 8% choosing the government.

Labour also had a lead on who has best proposals to ease cost of living, who has provided fully costed spending pledges, and who has been knocking on doors.

The Tories were preferred on who has better policies for pensioners. Some 22% chose Mr Sunak’s party, but this is down 10 points compared with when we asked the same question five weeks ago. Some 16% said Labour, down four points. On who is offering tax cuts for working people, 23% said the Tories and 16% Labour.

A separate poll conducted by More in Common forecasted the Tories’ worst ever loss with the party set to be reduced to just 126 seats. Labour is expected to outperform its 1997 landslide victory by getting 430 MPs. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer are set to lose their seats, according to the MRP poll of 13,556 adults.

Mr Sunak appeared on the This Morning sofa earlier as he made a last appeal to voters. Mr Starmer is making campaign stops in Wales, Scotland and the Midlands in his final election dash.

Labour urged voters not to be taken in by Tory suggestions that the election has already been won amid fears people may not bother going to polling stations.

Cabinet minister Mel Stride earlier said Mr Starmer will likely win “the largest majority any party has ever achieved”.

“I have accepted… where the polls are at the moment – and it seems highly unlikely that they are very, very wrong, because they’ve been consistently in the same place for some time,” the Work and Pensions Secretary added.

But Labour campaign chief Pat McFadden said: “It’s disrespectful of the Tories to call the outcome before people have gone to the polls.”

Whitestone Insight interviewed 2,008 adults in Britain online on July 1 and 2.