Another troubling poll for Conservatives as other parties target south-east seats

The Conservatives are in a “deep hole”, a pollster has said ahead of the General Election, while Oxfordshire is one of the key locations which other parties are targeting.

The south east of England – outside London – is historically one of the safest areas for the Conservatives, but other parties have targeted the region for potential gains.

The latest poll follows a survey of more than 10,000 people, which suggested the Conservatives would hold just 155 seats, and that Labour would come away with a victory.

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The poll by More in Common projected a Labour majority of 162, just shy of its 1997 and 2001 landslides, with the Conservatives projected to achieve their worst seat total since 1906.

More in Common said the Lib Dems are set to mainly make gains in southern England, particularly in Surrey, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Dorset, with the one constituency the Lib Dems are defending in the South East being the local seat of Oxford West and Abingdon.

Layla Moran is hoping to hold that seat after she first won in 2017.

Oxford East is also one of the eight seats that Labour is defending in the South East - alongside other seats in built-up areas and locations with large students populations: Bright Kemptown and Peacehaven, Canterbury, Hove and Portslade, Portsmouth South, Reading Central, Slough and Southampton Test.

Anneliese Dodds also first won the Oxford East seat in 2017 and is hoping to be re-elected on July 4.