ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

A bombshell study has found that few voters believe the Conservative Party’s key election claim that its councils cost less for quality local services.

Only three in 10 voters across London see the Conservatives as the party of low council tax and a meagre 18 per cent in Tory-run boroughs think it delivers on its boast of lower bills and better services.

The report, by ex-Conservative treasurer Lord Ashcroft, comes before the May 3 elections in London, where the Conservatives are fighting to avoid the loss of flagships such as Wandsworth, Barnet and Westminster.

It found that many Londoners plan to use their votes to punish Theresa May and the national government for Brexit and spending cuts.

Few appeared nervous of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s Left-wing supporters taking over councils. In Tory-run boroughs only a third of voters associated the party with either better services or lower council tax.

Anger over Brexit Many voters who took part in the study were gloomy about national politics — and angry about Brexit. Comments about Theresa May included sympathy for the pressure she was under. “I’m surprised she hasn’t had a nervous breakdown,” a voter said. One added: “She’s doing as well as she can. She’s got a lot of half-baked people around her.” Some people said spending cuts felt deeper. “Before 2015 they were aiming to balance the books,” said one. “After that ... they weren’t fair cuts.”

In today’s Standard, Lord Ashcroft says some Londoners who were “happy with their low bills and clean streets” saw the elections as a “chance of giving the Government another good kicking”. “Even those who are not inclined to punish the Conservatives for Brexit itself see an embattled Prime Minister and a Government divided and preoccupied by Europe, and which seems to lack both the energy and the empathy to deal with other big, urgent issues,” he says.

Among the findings: six in 10 Londoners, including three in 10 Tories, disapprove of the Government’s record. Just 25 per cent approve. Three quarters of Remainers disapprove.

Mayor Sadiq Khan is seen as doing a better job than either Mrs May or Mr Corbyn. Londoners scored Mr Khan 53 out of 100 on average, compared with 35 for the Prime Minister and 47 for the Labour leader. Mr Corbyn outshone Mrs May among Remain voters by 55 to 27.

Londoners in Tory-led boroughs are happier with the way they are run. Some 32 per cent say their council is well-run and 25 per cent badly. In Labour boroughs the split was 29-28.

However, only a quarter of Londoners think Conservative councils provide better services, compared with 40 per cent who think Labour does better.

Only six in 10 could accurately say if their borough was Labour or Tory-run.

Half say they know nothing about Momentum, the Left-wing group that is taking over Labour-run Haringey council. Only three in 10 know a little about it, torpedoing Tory hopes that fears of the group could turn voters off Labour.

Asked to score their chances from 0-100 of voting for each major party on May 3, the poll found average scores of 32 for the Tories, 51 for Labour and 24 for the Lib Dems.

Lord Ashcroft’s study combined a major poll of 3,059 Londoners, plus 16 focus groups staged in key boroughs.