With its laser focus on pensioners (the most likely age group to vote), George Osborne’s fifth Budget was his shrewdest to date – and the Tories have been duly rewarded in the polls. Two surveys published tonight – Survation for the Mail on Sunday and YouGov for the Sunday Times – put Labour’s lead at just one point.
As intended, the measures announced by Osborne have helped to draw the over-65s away from UKIP and back to the Tories. Survation puts the Conservatives up four points to 34 per cent, with the Farageists down three points to 15 per cent. Labour support has actually risen by one point to 35 per cent, showing that the Tories have benefited by clawing back voters from UKIP and winning over the previously undecided. YouGov does show a fall in the Labour vote, from 39 per cent to 37 per cent, but again it’s UKIP that has suffered most, with its support down from 15 per cent to 11 per cent.
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