Around a tenth of the electorate could be prepared to switch allegiances and vote tactically at the general election next week, new polling suggests.

The survey of 10,000 voters found that 44 per cent of Labour Remain voters would back the Liberal Democrats where they are best-placed to defeat Brexit-backing Conservatives, while 39 per cent of Lib Dem supporters are prepared to do the same to help a Labour candidate beat a Tory.

Despite Boris Johnson’s overall lead in the polls, campaigners for a Final Say referendum believe tactical voting on this scale could be enough to deny him the overall majority in the Commons – scuppering his plans to force through Brexit by 31 October.

The survey, released by the Vote for a Final Say campaign, which recently splintered from the People’s Vote group, suggests that movement in the polls during the election so far are largely explained by tactical votes, with Brexit Party supporters switching to Tories as the best means of delivering EU withdrawal and Lib Dems swinging behind Labour candidates in seats where Jo Swinson’s party stands no chance of victory.

But the poll found that Mr Johnson has “very limited capacity” to squeeze further backing from Leave supporters, who make up just 45 per cent of those likely to vote.

General election: Facts and figures Show all 79 1 /79 General election: Facts and figures General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 opinion polls General Election 2019 opinion polls. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Estimated declaration time General Election 2019 estimated declaration times. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures 'Big beasts' at risk General Election 2019 'big beasts' at risk. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Smallest majorities at 2017 general election Smallest majorities at 2017 general election. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Turnout at UK general elections Turnout at UK general elections. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 poll of polls General Election 2019 poll of polls. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Vote shares at general elections since 1945 Vote shares at general elections since 1945. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Seats to watch in North-west England General election 2019 seats to watch in North-west England. See story POLITICS Election NorthWest. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Women MPs at UK general elections Women MPs at UK general elections. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 leaders' visits - Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn General Election 2019 leaders' visits. See story POLITICS Election Visits. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Boris Johnson's campaign visits so far General Election 2019: Boris Johnson's campaign visits so far. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Jeremy Corbyn's campaign visits so far General Election 2019: Jeremy Corbyn's campaign visits so far. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Pound v dollar Pound v dollar. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 opinion polls in Wales General Election 2019 opinion polls in Wales. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Seats to watch in London General election 2019 seats to watch in London See story POLITICS Election London. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Seats to watch in Wales General Election 2019 seats to watch in Wales. See story POLITICS Election WalesSeats. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Seats to watch in Eastern England General election 2019 seats to watch in Eastern England. See story POLITICS Election Eastern. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 leaders' visits so far General Election 2019: leaders' visits so far. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Seats to watch in south-east England General Election 2019 seats to watch, south-east England. See story POLITICS Election SouthEast. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 leaders' visits General Election 2019 leaders' visits. See story POLITICS Election Visits. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Historic Labour seats at risk General Election 2019: historic Labour seats at risk. See story POLITICS Election Historic. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Opinion polls (one week to go) v election result 2017 Opinion polls v election rsult 2017. See story POLITICS Election Polls. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 polls in Scotland General Election 2019 opinion polls in Scotland. See story POLITICS Election Poll Scotland. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Opinion polls (one week to go) v election result 2015 Opinion polls v election result 2015. See story POLITICS Election Polls. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Seats to watch in West Midlands General election 2019 seats to watch in the West Midlands. See story POLITICS Election WestMidlands. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Bellwether seats Bellwether seats at UK general elections. See story POLITICS Election Bellwethers. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Conservative top targets General Election 2019 Conservative top targets. See story POLITICS Election Conservatives. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 polls in London General Election 2019 opinion polls in London. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Leaders' approval ratings, July-December Leaders' approval ratings. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Seats to watch in Yorkshire General election 2019 seats to watch in Yorkshire. See story POLITICS Election Yorkshire. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 timetable General Election 2019 timetable. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Labour top targets General Election 2019 Labour top targets. Infographic PA graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Seats to watch in north-east England General Election 2019 seats to watch, north-east England. See story POLITICS Election NorthEast. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures When parliamentary seats last changed hands When parliamentary seats last changed hands. See story POLITICS Election Seats. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Seats to watch in the East Midlands General election 2019 seats to watch in the East Midlands. See story POLITICS Election EastMidlands. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Seats to watch in south-west England General election 2019 seats to watch in south-west England. See story POLITICS Election SouthWest. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Planned increase in day-to-day departmental spending General Election 2019 planned increase in day-to-day departmental spending. See story POLITICS Election IFS. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Corporation tax rates General Election 2019 corporation tax rates. See story POLITICS Election IFS. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Opinion polls (two weeks to go) v election result 2017 Opinion polls v election result 2017. See story POLITICS Election Polls. Infographic by PA Graphics. PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Opinion polls (two weeks to go) v election result 2015 Opinion polls v election result 2015. See story POLITICS Election Polls. Infographic by PA Graphics. PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Hospital admissions in England for poisoning by drug misuse. See story POLITICS Drugs. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Applications to register to vote Applications to register to vote. See story POLITICS Election Voting. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures How many women MPs could there be after the election? How many women MPs could there be after the election? See story POLITICS Election Women. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 opinion polls in Wales General Election 2019 opinion polls in Wales. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures A comparison of the length of the manifestos of the main parties A comparison of the length of the manifestos of the main parties. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Mentions of key words in the main party manifestos Mentions of key words in the main party manifestos. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Mentions of key words in the main party manifestos Mentions of key words in the main party manifestos. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Leaders' approval ratings, July-November Leaders' approval ratings. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Council houses built in the UK 1951-2018 Council houses built in the UK 1951-2018. See story POLITICS Election Labour Housing. Infographic from PA graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Council houses built in the UK Council houses built in the UK. See story POLITICS Election Labour Housing. Infographic from PA graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Opinion polls (three weeks to go) v election result 2015 Opinion polls v election result 2015. See story POLITICS Election Polls. Infographic by PA Graphics. PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Opinion polls (three weeks to go) v election result 2017 Opinion polls v election result 2017. See story POLITICS Election Polls. Infographic by PA Graphics. PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures General election 2019 target seats General election 2019 target seats. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Lib Dem targets General Election 2019 Lib Dem targets. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures SNP targets General Election 2019 SNP targets. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Plaid Cymru targets General Election 2019 Plaid Cymru targets. See story POLITICS Election Plaid. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Prime ministers with shortest time in office Prime ministers with shortest time in office. See story POLITICS Election PrimeMinister. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Applications to register to vote Applications to register to vote. See story POLITICS Election Voting. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Major toll roads & bridges in Great Britain Major toll roads & bridges in Great Britain. See story POLITICS Election Labour Tolls. Infographic from PA graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Police workforce in England and Wales Police workforce in England and Wales. See story POLITICS Election Tories Knife. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Police officers in England and Wales Police officers in England and Wales. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Police-recorded homicides in England and Wales Police-recorded homicides in England and Wales. See story POLITICS Election Tories Knife. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Knife crime offences recorded by police in England and Wales Knife crime offences recorded by police in England and Wales. See story POLITICS Election Tories Knife. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Opinion polls in 2019 Opinion polls in 2019. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Number of candidates per seat Number of candidates per seat at the 2019 General Election. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Candidates standing in the 2019 General Election Candidates standing in the 2019 General Election. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Candidates at UK general elections since 1979 Candidates at UK general elections since 1979. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Women candidates at the 2019 General Election Women candidates at the 2019 General Election. Infographic from PA Graphics. Charlotte Hodges Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Prime ministers with smallest constituency majorities to defend Prime ministers with smallest constituency majorities to defend at a general election. See story POLITICS Election Majority. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Cost of administering polls since 2010 Cost of administering polls since 2010. See story POLITICS Election Cost. Infographic by PA Graphics. Embargoed to 0001 Wednesday November 6 PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures People's Vote group priority list of recommended candidates in key target seats People's Vote group revealed its priority list of recommended candidates in key target seats. See story POLITICS Election Vote. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures MPs retiring from the House of Commons at general elections MPs retiring from the House of Commons at general elections. See story POLITICS Elections. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Lib Dems/Plaid Cymru/Green pact in Wales Lib Dems/Plaid Cymru/Green pact in Wales. See POLITICS Election Pact Seats. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Lib Dems/Green pact in England, seats where Greens have stood down in favour of Lib Dems Lib Dems/Green pact in England, seats where Greens have stood down in favour of Lib Dems. See story POLITICS Election Pact Seats. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Lib Dems/Green pact in England Lib Dems/Green pact in England. See story POLITICS Election Pact Seats. Infographic by PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Nationality of NHS workforce in England Nationality of NHS workforce in England. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Proportion of NHS workforce in England who are not UK nationals Proportion of NHS workforce in England who are not UK nationals. See story POLITICS Election. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Long-term net migration to the UK Long-term net migration to the UK. See story POLITICS Election Immigration. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images General election: Facts and figures Shortest parliamentary sessions since First World War Shortest parliamentary sessions since First World War. See story POLITICS Election Dissolution. Infographic PA Graphics PA Graphics Press Association Images

Former Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said that the question facing voters was no longer whether his party or Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour could win, but whether Mr Johnson and his “Brexit extremists” can be prevented from seizing total power.

“We are now just days away from a general election which threatens to cast a long shadow over the future of our country and an entire generation,” said Sir Vince.

“Nobody really thinks that Labour or, sadly, the Liberal Democrats are likely to win a majority. Therefore, the only question facing voters next week is whether they want to hand total power to Boris Johnson and the English nationalists and Brexit extremists now occupying Downing Street.

“I have been out there campaigning to persuade Labour voters to support Liberal Democrat candidates in constituencies like Wells, Brecon and Wimbledon. But I also know there are a great many good Liberal Democrat voters preparing to hold their nose and back Labour in seats like Canterbury and Sedgefield – or back brave independents like David Gauke. I understand why they are doing that and recognise why it may be necessary if we are to stop Brexit being forced on us by the Tories.”

Sir Vince Cable says neither Labour nor the Lib Dems are unlikely to win a majority (The Independent)

The 10,000-voter survey, conducted over the past two weeks by Populus Data Services (PDS) for the Vote for a Final Say campaign, found a tenth of the electorate could vote tactically on Thursday.

Some 53 per cent of Liberal Democrat supporters also said they would vote tactically if their favoured candidate stood no chance of victory in their constituency, with 39 per cent saying they would back Labour and 14 per cent Conservatives in these circumstances.

Among Labour Remainers, 44 per cent were ready to switch to the Lib Dems if they are best placed to win, and just 3 per cent willing to back Tories.

Shifts on this scale would protect dozens of Labour constituencies vulnerable to the Tories and ensure the Lib Dems hold onto their current seats, while improving the prospects of Mr Corbyn’s party seizing seats like Putney or Chingford and Woodford Green, and Ms Swinson’s party winning Remain-backing constituencies like Esher and Walton from the Conservatives, said the Vote for a Final Say campaign.

Pollster Andrew Cooper said it was clear from the survey that a majority of voters do not want the Tory version of Brexit to go ahead without a referendum, but also that a majority are opposed to a Labour government led by Mr Corbyn. Mr Johnson’s Tories were “cynically leveraging” voters’ fear of Mr Corbyn to win support from people who do not want the kind of Brexit they are offering, he said.

Lord Cooper, chair of Populus and David Cameron’s head of strategy ahead of the Conservatives’ 2015 election victory, said the Tories and the Brexit Party had “effectively become one”, and that the “broad-based, open-minded, aspirational One Nation Conservative Party” has now been replaced by a “narrow nationalist party” obsessed by the single issue of securing Brexit at any cost.

“The millions of past Tory voters who are appalled by this should not feel they have no choice but to go along with it,” said Lord Cooper. “They have a choice. It is not inevitable that we get a big majority Tory government that will ram through hard Brexit.”

Alastair Campbell says it is time for Remain voters to abandon party loyalties (PA)

With less than a week to go before polling day, “two plain truths” emerge from the polling, he said. “Firstly, there is absolutely no chance whatsoever of this election producing a majority in the House of Commons either for Jeremy Corbyn to be prime minister, or to pass the irresponsible and extreme elements of his agenda that worry so many mainstream voters.

“Secondly, as shown powerfully in this big new poll, if those who say they are willing in principle to vote tactically to avert hard Brexit actually do so, there is still a real chance of preventing it.”

Alastair Campbell, who helped Tony Blair to three successive Labour election victories, said it was time for Remain voters to set aside party loyalties in order to keep open the chance of a referendum.

“This election is not about Jeremy Corbyn or Jo Swinson – neither can win a majority,” said Mr Campbell. “It has come down to one simple question: do you want to give Boris Johnson and the reckless right-wing gang that surrounds him total power to do whatever they want?

“It is not too late to stop him and secure a democratic Final Say on Brexit. But a lot more people are going to have to focus on who can win their seat, hold their noses and put aside party loyalty, or even views about the respective leaders, if we are to have a real chance.”

Entrepreneur and activist Gina Miller, who is conducting a separate tactical voting campaign, said that a Conservative majority would mean that “all routes are closed” to a Final Say referendum.

Speaking to The Independent as she campaigned with the Lib Dems in the target seat of Esher and Walton, held by foreign secretary Dominic Raab, Ms Miller said: “If there is no tactical voting there will be a Tory majority. If there is a Tory majority then a referendum is gone.

“A hung parliament takes us to a second referendum. If there is a Conservative majority, all routes are closed. If there is a hung parliament then there’s a route to find a way to a second referendum.”

A separate poll by the pro-EU Best for Britain campaign also found that if fewer than 41,000 voters cast their ballots tactically on Thursday in 36 constituencies it could deliver a hung parliament.