Labour move up one point but Conservatives maintain strong lead
The Labour Party have won an extra point following Jeremy Corbyn's Question Time appearance last night but the Conservatives still hold a strong lead, a poll shows.
Labour is now up from 29 to 30 per cent, while the Conservative Party has stayed at 43 per cent.
Jo Swinson's Liberal Democrats party, at 15 points, followed by the Brexit Party on 4 per cent. Other parties including the Green Party have remained at 5 per cent.
The new survey, compiled by PA media after Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn were grilled by a live audience on the BBC’s Question Time: Election special last night, is based on an average of comparable general election polls from the last week.
In his 30-minute slot, the Labour leader told the audience that he would take a "neutral stance" in another EU referendum on a "credible" deal negotiated by his government if he became Prime Minister.
"I will adopt, as prime minister, if I am at the time, a neutral stance so that I can credibly carry out the results of that to bring communities and country together rather than continuing an endless debate about the EU and Brexit."
He was also challenged by an audience in what he described as a "nice old grandpa" routine, pointing out that in 2016 he was filmed speaking to a Labour activist who had made Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth cry at the launch of a report on antisemitism in the party.
Host Fiona Bruce challenged Boris Johnson on his ‘racist rhetoric’ including his remark that Muslim women wearing the burqa looked like ‘letterboxes’ last year.
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Johnson refused to apologise saying he "genuinely never intended to cause hurt or pain to anybody and that is my intention".
The audience scoffed when he added: “If you go through all my articles with a fine-tooth comb and take out individual phrases, there is no doubt that you can find things that can be made to seem offensive and of course I understand that.”
One junior doctor accused him of “lying to us” as she challenged the Tories’ record on the NHS, while another voter questioned whether he could be trusted.
In his response, Mr Johnson was met with groans when he said the NHS’s demands could only be met when “we get Brexit done”.
Meanwhile Jo Swinson came under attack by both Leave and Remain voters over her plans to fight the election on a policy of cancelling Brexit and revoking article 50.