Theresa May has hit the magical 50 per cent of the vote which would deliver a landslide victory to the Tories on June 8.
In a sensational Sunday Mirror ComRes poll today the Conservatives have pulled a further four points ahead of Labour since a survey last Sunday.
Labour remains on 25 per cent. If those figures were mirrored on election day, Prime Minister Mrs May would be left with a thumping overall majority of more than 200 – while Jeremy Corbyn would lose at least 90 MPs.
If Mrs May pulls that off it means she would beat the 418 seats Tony Blair won in the 1997 landslide that ushered in 13 years of New Labour rule.
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And in another blow to Labour, 45 per cent of the party’s voters say it cannot win the General Election with Mr Corbyn as leader.
His chances are rated worst in the East of England with seven in 10 giving him the thumbs down, followed by more than six in 10 in the East Midlands and Wales.
He even seems to have lost the support of young people who once rooted for him with 41 per cent of 18-24-year-olds saying Labour cannot win with him at the helm.
This is the first time since April 2002 that any UK political party has achieved 50 per cent of the vote. Back then it was Labour, under Tony Blair.
And the last time the Conservatives hit such a stratospheric figure was January 1991 when then Tory leader John Major was Prime Minister.
More than six in 10 voters say Mrs May would make the best PM after the election with only a quarter opting for her opposite number Mr Corbyn.
Even one in five Labour voters say she would be best.
She even out-performs him in Labour’s North of England heartlands and SNP-controlled Scotland, where she scores 51 and 57 per cent respectively.
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Mrs May’s leadership score is higher than Mr Corbyn, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron and UKIP chief’s Paul Nuttall combined. And she is 12 points ahead of her predecessor David Cameron as the people’s choice for “better PM”.
Six in 10 women prefer Mrs May compared to two in five who say Mr Cameron was the better PM – while younger voters overwhelmingly preferred Mr Cameron.
Half of people who voted UKIP in 2015 now say they will turn to the Tories, up from fewer than a third last weekend.
Even though Mrs May broke her word not to go to the polls before 2020, 55 per cent of those questioned support her decision to do so. Only one in five say it was a mistake.
Over-65s are the keenest to see another election with seven in 10 welcoming June’s poll. Nevertheless, nearly half of voters accused the PM of misleading the country by insisting she would not call an early election.
And even 23 per cent of Tory voters also supported that view.
Two-thirds of voters in the 18-24 age group feel the PM misled them by calling the election and men of all ages are more likely to feel that way than women.
And more than half of SNP voters say Mrs May should not have called it. Six in 10 voters say she only did it to exploit the weakness of Labour. That rises to 73 per cent among Labour supporters and 83 per cent of Lib Dems.
Four in 10 do not think she has their best interests at heart – though six in 10 over-65s reckon the PM is their champion, with 64 per cent of them saying they will vote Tory.
The crumb of comfort for Mr Corbyn is that seven in 10 voters think the NHS, on which Labour is strongest, should be the top election issue. That rises to 85 per cent among Labour voters.
Yet 47 per cent of all those questioned still expect the Tories to win a landslide.
ComRes boss Andrew Hawkins said: “While no party could ever object to breaching the 50 per cent barrier for the first time this century, this spectacular headline result masks a real danger for the Tories. The fact six in 10 believe Labour cannot win under Corbyn brings a huge threat of complacency among Tory voters who may be tempted to sit at home on June 8.”
Yet 65 per cent of these questioned still say they are certain to vote on June 8, though that drops to 53 per cent in the 18-24 age group.
In further bad news for Mr Corbyn one in 10 fewer Labour voters say they are certain to turn out this time round at the polling stations.
And nearly one in 10 adults in the North East are adamant they will not vote in this election compared to just one in a hundred in the South West.
Overall, the NHS is the most important issue to voters, followed by Brexit and the state of the economy. In the 45-54 age group Brexit matters more than the health service. Four in 10 cite immigration as the key issue, a quarter highlight combatting terrorism and 16 per cent say Tory-imposed austerity should be the main debate.
Lib Dems are still polling on 11 per cent – the same as last week – and UKIP is down two points to seven per cent. Our latest results show the Tories putting on eight points in a month with Labour remaining static.
May's General Election poll surge
Voting intentions in the 18-24 age group show 40 per cent supporting Labour while fewer than 20 per cent admit to backing the Tories and 12 per cent say they back the Lib Dems.
Labour scores worst in the over-65s with only 12 per cent supporting the party. And its backing among working class voters is only 28 per cent compared to 44 per cent for the Tories.
Labour’s vote is strongest in the North East where 45 per cent say they back Mr Corbyn’s party. But it is only 10 per cent in Scotland – where the SNP scores 42 per cent.
Only a quarter of those in the North East thought Mrs May had their best interests at heart compared to 43 per cent in the more affluent South East and 49 per cent in the South West.
- ComRes interviewed 2,074 adults online between April 19 and 20.