Poll showing Theresa May's lead slipping will '˜focus minds'

A poll showing Theresa May's lead over Jeremy Corbyn has slipped to just five points will 'focus the minds' of voters, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has said.

Conservative party leader Theresa May and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson during the Scottish Conservatives manifesto launch. Pic: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Ms Davidson claimed there was “no safe way to vote Labour” after the latest YouGov survey showed the party has made a remarkable recovery after being 24 points down when the general election was called.

The opinion poll is the first carried out since the Manchester terrorist attack and put the Conservatives down a point on the previous week on 43 per cent and Labour up three on 38 per cent.

Ms Davidson said: “This is going to focus minds on the idea that there could potentially be a Jeremy Corbyn prime ministership.

“If you don’t want Jeremy Corbyn to be the prime minister of this country … there’s no safe way to vote Labour.”

She said it was “absolutely right” political campaigning had ceased in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing – but also said it was important politicians were again back out on the election trail.

She said: “The people who are attacking our country and other countries, it’s because they don’t like our freedoms, they don’t like our values , they don’t like our democracy.

“That’s why it’s so important that we get back out there, because we can’t let them win, we can’t show people they’re having an impact.”