A pox on all your houses: Ukip surge hammers Labour as well as Tories
Labour is shedding as much support to Ukip as the Conservatives, new polling suggests.
A new ICM-Guardian survey shows the eurosceptic party on a record high of 18%, rising nine points as all three main parties continue to haemorrhage support.
The Conservatives are down four points on 28%, Labour is down four points on 34% and the Liberal Democrats are also down four points on 11%.
It is the first time in ICM/Guardian history that all three main parties have fallen back in the polls simultaneously. It is also a devastatingly low poll score for the Conservative party.
The YouGov/Sun tracker poll appears to substantiate the findings, with Ukip on 14%, the Conservatives on 31% and Labour on 38%.
The findings will irritate Labour campaigners, who would expect the party to benefit from the Tories' chaotic internal debate on the EU.
Instead, both parties appear to be victims of Ukip, which is benefitting from the relentless focus on the party in the press.
The continued surge suggests the Tories cannot stem the Ukip threat by appropriating their policy positions.
A focus on the EU and a tough immigration bill in the Queen's Speech have done nothing to shield the party from the Ukip threat on its right flank.
The Ukip surge is almost certainly not a result of a corresponding rise in British euroscepticism.
ICM research shows support for leaving the EU has actually fallen since David Cameron's Bloomberg speech promising a referendum.
When the prime minister made the speech the public was split 51%-40% for leaving the EU. That figure now stands at 43%-40%.
