Labour has gained a “flying start” on the Conservatives in its social media campaign as aggressive, anti-establishment messages appear to be beating clever Tory memes.

Analysis by Cardiff University showed that Labour had leapt ahead of the Conservatives. In the week to Monday it posted four of the five most “liked” campaign tweets by political parties and five of the top Facebook posts in terms of interactions. It also dominated on Instagram, a platform popular with younger voters.

Matt Walsh, senior lecturer in journalism at Cardiff University, who compiled the figures, said: “It’s striking how Labour is appealing to a large online audience with aggressive anti-establishment messages from [Jeremy] Corbyn, attacking tax-dodging elites. Surprisingly, given the parties’ interest in video ads, people reacted most