A new poll reveals a further drop in support for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives after five party officials, including two candidates, came under investigation for betting on the timing of an early election.
This scandal is hindering the Conservatives’ efforts to narrow the gap with the opposition Labour Party’s substantial lead, just eight days before the national election.
According to the Survation poll published on Wednesday, the number of Conservative officials under investigation has grown, leading to a decrease in party support to 18%, a drop of 2 percentage points.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party holds steady at 41%.
Since the betting allegations surfaced, government conduct has become the second most critical issue for voters, following the cost of living crisis, the poll indicated.
The scandal escalated late on Tuesday when a cabinet minister confessed to placing three bets on the election date but stated he was not under investigation by the gambling regulator.
Additionally, a Labour candidate admitted to placing a bet against himself.
On Tuesday, both the Conservatives and Labour withdrew support for the candidates under investigation.
Sunak faced days of criticism for not promptly suspending the candidates being investigated by the regulator.
While expressing his extreme anger over the scandal, Sunak initially refrained from withdrawing support, preferring to let the investigations conclude before taking any action.
Mel Stride, the work and pensions minister, mentioned on Wednesday that more candidates might be implicated in the scandal and called for a debate on political betting.
Survation conducted the poll by interviewing 1,022 adults in Britain via phone between June 21 and 25.