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Theresa May’s plea for more time at No 10 was hit today by a bombshell poll showing Conservative support plunging to its lowest level for 17 years.

The exclusive Ipsos MORI survey for the Evening Standard revealed the Government’s ratings in freefall and the Conservatives’ vote share in a general election down 13 points in one month to a shocking low of 25 per cent.

And the Prime Minister’s dire personal ratings suggest Conservatives need not look far for the reason.

Seven in 10 think she is doing a bad job on Brexit, including half of Tory supporters.

Eight in 10 doubt she will secure a good deal from the European Union. Some 69 per cent are dissatisfied with her performance — her lowest score since taking office.

The resounding thumbs-down from voters comes on the day Mrs May is due to meet the 18-strong executive of the 1922 Committee for a showdown over her refusal to give a firm date for when she will finally throw in the towel.

Committee treasurer Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown warned before the private meeting: “It would be infinitely preferable if she set a date rather than us force her out.

“It’s better that she does it than we have a vote of confidence. What I would like to see is her set out a timetable to trigger a leadership contest.”

Mrs May left the meeting with the 1922 Committee executive at 1.15pm, more than an hour and a half after it started.

She went straight back to Downing Street, arriving by a back entrance with her chief of staff Gavin Barwell.

There was no immediate word from either side on what they had agreed in the longer-than-expected talks.

Earlier, when asked if Mrs May should set a date for her departure, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told Radio 4’s Today show: “I don’t know because I can’t speak for the individual MPs involved.”

The Prime Minister’s woe’s deepened as shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry dashed Tory hopes that Labour will abstain on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, telling ITV’s Peston: “We are going to oppose it.”

Today’s poll is the worst for Mrs May personally so far, and the worst for the Conservatives since they hit their lowest ebb in opposition in 2002 under Iain Duncan Smith, who was forced to resign by the 1922 Committee a year later.

It is also the lowest combined Tory and Labour score since the monthly Ipsos MORI Political Monitor series began 40 years ago.

Key findings are:

The Conservatives have lost about a fifth of their 2017 voters to Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party.

If a general election was held tomorrow, just 25 per cent would vote Conservative, down from 38 per cent in March. Only 27 per cent would back Labour, down seven points from 34.

The Brexit Party comes third with 16 per cent, up from a single percentage point in March.

Also up are the Lib Dems at 15, from eight, and the Greens, on seven, up from four. Change UK is unmoved at two per cent.

Just over a third, 36 per cent, of people think the Conservatives should change their leader as soon as possible, including a fifth of Tory supporters.

Some 18 per cent say Mrs May should be given until Parliament agrees a Brexit deal. A fifth say a leadership change should wait until after Britain leaves the EU, and 15 per cent think Mrs May could stay to a general election.

A huge 84 per cent of the public are dissatisfied with the Government, and just one in 10 is satisfied. Some 69 per cent are dissatisfied with Mrs May, her worst score as PM. Just 26 per cent are satisfied with her, including just over half of Conservative supporters.

Jeremy Corbyn’s personal score is even worse than Mrs May’s with 73 per cent dissatisfied with him and 20 per cent satisfied, including 54 per cent of Labour supporters.

Three-quarters of people who voted Conservative in 2017 say they dislike their party’s approach to Brexit. Half say they like the Brexit Party’s approach.

Pessimism about the UK’s economic prospects is slightly eased, with 51 per cent thinking things will get worse (down from 59), and an unchanged 16 per cent saying they will improve.

Keiran Pedley, research director at Ipsos MORI, said: “These numbers should worry the Conservatives greatly.

"The last time their headline voting intention figures were this bad, they were in opposition and it took them two changes of leader and the best part of a decade to get back into government.”

Prominent Brexiteer Mark Francois said a Tory drubbing in next week’s European elections could force the PM out. “At that point, I believe, my colleagues will finally wake up and smell the coffee, if they have not, indeed, done so already.”

Mrs May’s former joint chief of staff Nick Timothy wrote in the Telegraph that “the game is up”.

Former environment secretary Owen Paterson wrote: “Unless she accepts defeat and resigns now, her enduring legacy will be to have destroyed the Conservative party.”

After meeting Mrs May, the 1922 executive will discuss calls for leadership contest rules to be changed to permit a fresh confidence vote after June 12.