Ashcroft poll shows Yorkshire election battle

Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft’s latest election polling shows that in seats where Labour needs to overturn a majority of between 4.8% and 7.1% the party is still posing a General Election threat to the Tories.

Taking the seats together, on the basis of the total sample of 12,008, Labour led the Conservatives by 36% to 33%, a swing of 4.5%since the 2010 election.

There was further bad news for the Tories in Keighley, where housing minister Kris Hopkins is defending a 2,940 majority.

Lord Ashcroft’s poll suggested that when undecided voters are taken into account Labour would take 37%, the Conservatives 31% and Ukip 23%

Mr Hopkins insisted there was still a long way to go before voters had made up their mind.

He said: “The legacy bequeathed by the last Labour Government was one of wreck and ruin. Our country was left with the highest structural budget deficit of any major economy in the world, and the highest deficit in our peacetime history.

“However, because of the action the Conservative-led Government has taken, the UK is forecast to be the fastest growing advanced economy in the world this year. Our success is acknowledged in this poll by the fact that 58% of people surveyed in Keighley and Ilkley believe that the economy will make life better for them and their families in the coming twelve months.

“A Labour Government would put all of this at risk. I never take the people of Keighley and Ilkley for granted and they will have their say in next May’s General Election. Between now and then, I will continue to work very hard on their behalf and seek to emphasise the importance of the judgement they will be making at the ballot box.”

Lord Ashcroft said: “My battleground polling has to date found the Tories behind in 38 - albeit sometimes by very slim margins - and we have not yet reached the point at which the Tory losses end.”