A recent poll conducted by Best for Britain indicates a potentially bleak outlook for the Conservative Party in Wales and Scotland, with predictions of a setback in the upcoming general election.
The poll’s analysis suggests that the electoral contest will primarily revolve around Labour’s Matthew Dorrance and Conservative candidate Fay Jones in the Brecon, Radnor, and Cwm Tawe constituency.
This poll employs multilevel regression and poststratification (MRP) methodology, a technique for estimating opinions and attitudes in specific geographic areas.
This approach combines data from large national samples, comprising tens of thousands of respondents, with information from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and census data. The fieldwork for this poll, conducted from the 8th to the 22nd of March, surveyed 15,029 individuals.
The poll, conducted by Survation on behalf of Best for Britain, coincided with the Chancellor’s Budget announcement. According to the poll’s constituency-level MRP analysis, if current trends continue under Chancellor Rishi Sunak, the Conservative Party is projected to secure only 98 MPs in the next election.
The poll indicates a competitive race between Labour and the Conservatives in the Brecon, Radnor, and Cwm Tawe constituency. This new constituency, including Brecon and Radnorshire and a vast portion of the former Neath constituency, has historically been a stronghold for Labour, consistently electing Labour MPs for over a century.
The updated boundaries and the latest scientific data suggest a closely contested election in Brecon, Radnor, and Cwm Tawe. Matthew Dorrance, the Labour candidate, emphasized the critical role of his party in preventing a Conservative victory in the constituency.
He highlighted that voting for any other party could allow the Conservatives to regain power. Dorrance expressed his commitment to earning voters’ trust through hard work during the campaign, aiming to facilitate the change he believes the country needs.
Dorrance’s statements reflect the clarity of the polling data, which presents voters with a choice between a dedicated local Labour representative focused on change and a potential continuation of what he perceives as failure and decline under Conservative leadership.
The polling data underscore the importance of the upcoming election and its potential implications for the political landscape in Wales and Scotland.