Tory poll lead plummets by 16 points over a month as Labour ride momentum into election

The Conservative opinion poll lead over Labour has dropped by 16 points over the past month, according to the latest survey from Survation released on Tuesday 6 June.

The poll for Good Morning Britain, of more than 1,000 people between 2 and 3 June, put the Tories on 41.6% and Labour on 40.4%. A similar survey conducted by Survation between 5 and 6 May gave the Conservatives a 17 point lead over Labour (47% versus 30%).

The latest release revealed that only half of those polled (50%) believed that Theresa May would make a better Prime Minister than Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (36%), who has seen his personal ratings surge by 15 points over the course of the Survation surveys.

But the poll also found that almost two-thirds (66%) of respondent thought that a Conservative majority of some description is the most likely outcome of this election.

The figures are the latest to be released by UK polling firms, with some studies putting the Tory lead as high as 12 points and others giving May's party just a one point lead. The differences are largely due to turnout assumptions.

Survation CEO Damian Lyons Lowe said his polling firm has not changed the way they take turnout into consideration.

"Most of the polling industry however, in response to our shared "neck and neck" error – for us only in our online method – have introduced various new turnout adjustments which have the effect of up weighting their Conservative voting intention figures and reducing the weight of groups and voters that they believe are exaggerating their likelihood to Labour and skewing headline data," he said.

The latest poll comes just two days before the big vote on 8 June. May called the election in a bid to strengthen her hand at the Brexit negotiating table.

But the Conservative campaign took a blow thanks to the backlash against the so called "dementia tax", which would see elderly people in England have to pay for their social care costs if they have assets worth more than £100,000.

May has also refused to take part in head-to-head TV debates against Corbyn, who has benefited from the broadcast time. Elsewhere, the Conservative premier, a former home secretary, has faced increased scrutiny over security in the wake of London Bridge terror attack.