RENTERS have abandoned the Tories in droves in the nation’s marginal seats because of the spiralling housing crisis, a shock new poll has revealed.

A new survey of the 60 tighest constituency battlefields shows barely a quarter – 28% - of the key voting group living in them now back Theresa May’s party. Half – 50% - now plan to vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party instead.

6 Half of renters in marginal constituencies say they will vote for Labour Credit: Getty Images - Getty

The findings – by pollsters Number Cruncher Politics for the housing charity Shelter – suggest soaring rents and sky high house prices are now an even bigger issue in deciding who will run the country than at the last general election.

The poll also reveals that Labour has now leapfrogged the Tories to take a 2 point lead in the marginals among all voters, by 42% v 40%.

That reverses the result at last year’s general election where the Tories narrowly came out on top across the 60 tightest races, by 46% v 44% - meaning the party has shed six per of its support in 16 months.

All voters in the marginals say they are also now more pessimistic about the state of housing than any other issue.

6 Housing charity Shelter carried out the study into the nation's most marginal seats Credit: Alamy

Two thirds of them - 67% - think the cost and availability of housing has got worse over the past five years.

In comparison the number worried about rising crime is 66%, those troubled by falling healthcare standards (54%), rising immigration levels (48%), and the poorer quality of schools (37%).

Private renters also back an increase in the number of council houses being built over policies to help with homeownership, the poll also found.

A total of 39% of them in the marginal said the government should prioritise building more social housing, compared to only 31% who preferred controversial schemes such as Help to Buy.

6 Number Cruncher Politics boss Matt Singh believes housing is something renters in marginal seats feel 'particularly gloomy about' Credit: Twitter / @MattSingh_

6 The poll revealed voters believe we should be building much more social housing Credit: Getty - Contributor

Number Cruncher Politics’s boss Matt Singh said: “Housing was key to last year’s general election result, with renters – and particularly private renters – fuelling the increase in turnout and swing to Labour that cost the Conservatives their majority.

“The poll shows that housing is both important to voters in crucial marginal seats, and something they feel particularly gloomy about.

“These findings sound a warning to the Tories ahead of their conference.”

In what experts dubbed a ‘rentquake’, there was a huge boost in turnout among enraged private renters at the nationwide poll last year.

6 Shelter CEO Polly Neate has called the Help to Buy scheme a 'failed idea'

Three in ten renters who voted Tory in 2015 – 29% - abandoned the party in 2017, with three-quarters of them defecting to Labour.

Shelter CEO Polly Neate said the research should “set alarm bells ringing for MPs”.

Ms Neate added: “Key voters are very pessimistic about the housing crisis, and private renters in particular look like they pose a threat at the ballot box. But there are options on the table to get out of this mess.

“As the numbers show, instead of pumping more cash into failed ideas like Help to Buy, we should be building much more social housing to give hard-pressed families an alternative to the private rented sector.

6 Only 59% of adults own their own home Credit: Getty - Contributor

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“Not only would this be a massive stride towards ending this crisis, but it’d be wildly popular too – so let’s get on with it.”

Between 2001 and 2018 the size of the private rental sector doubled, from 11% of the adult population to 28%.

The same period also saw a marked decline in the number who own their own home, falling from 73% of the population to 59%.

The Sun Says WE hope the poll revealing voters in ­marginal seats deserting the Tories over sky-high rents is enough to stir the ­Government from its paralysis. The Tories are consumed by Brexit. But away from that they must wake up and present radical ideas to beat ­Corbyn’s, especially on housing. They have an advantage. Theirs are more likely to be sane. And vanishingly less likely to put hundreds of thousands on the dole. But Theresa May must realise that voters have more pressing problems than Brexit which could cost her power. Next week the Tories must have a new story to tell.

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