LABOUR may have won enough support in the South East to overtake the Conservatives, according to an exclusive nationwide survey of voting intentions.

Across the region, 32 per cent of people said they are planning to vote Labour later this week, compared to 25 per cent who said that was their planned vote at the start of the election campaign.

The proportion of respondents backing the Tories is at 27 per cent, compared to 31 per cent supporting the party at the start of the campaign.

Other parties have seen their vote share squeezed by the contest between Labour and Conservatives – the Lib Dem vote was 7 per cent, compared to 7.1 per cent saying they supported the party at the start of the campaign, UKIP was 2.4 per cent, down from 2.8 per cent, although the Greens have seen a small increase and were on 3.4 per cent, up from 3 per cent.

Three quarters of people who planned to vote Conservative at the start of the campaign are still backing the party, but 10 per cent have switched to Labour, and 10 per cent say they are no longer sure who they will vote for.

Labour’s potentially improving prospects may be down in part to Jeremy Corbyn’s performance, 54 per cent of respondents in the region think the Labour leader has had the best general election campaign.

Missing the leaders’ debate on BBC1 last week may not have helped the perception of Mrs May’s performance, as 55 per cent of respondents said it was the wrong decision, including 91 per cent of those planning to vote Labour, 79 per cent of those backing the Lib Dems and even 15 per cent of Tory voters, although 66 per cent of this group think she was right to skip the debate.

Social care and the NHS are the issues most likely to determine how a third of respondents are planning to vote, 32 per cent, including 56 per cent of those planning to vote Labour and 30 per cent of Lib Dem voters, followed by Brexit, the key issue for 22 per cent of respondents, including 44 per cent of Conservative voters and 35 per cent of UKIP voters.