A survey of voting intentions in Hartlepool for The Economist by WeThink, a pollster, suggests how far the party has slumped. Our poll of 448 voters in the constituency puts Labour on 58%, Reform uk on 23% and the Tories on a remarkable 10% (see chart). Labour seems to have picked up voters both from the Brexit Party, Reform uk’s forerunner, and the Conservatives. If such an extreme Tory collapse seems unlikely, consider that in local elections in May it won a seat in only one of the 12 wards it contested in the town.

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