Theresa May better choice than Jeremy Corbyn best to lead the UK through Brexit, new poll shows

Best candidate: Voters believe Theresa May would be a better prime minister than Jeremy Corbyn
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Fiona Simpson10 April 2017
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Theresa May has the support of more than half of Brits to lead the country through negotiations on Brexit, according to a new poll.

The current prime minister had a 37-point lead on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, in the poll by former Tory donor Lord Ashcroft which measures the impact of Brexit on voters.

Fifty-five per cent of people said they would choose Mrs May to run the country over Mr Corbyn.

In a further blow to Mr Corbyn's leadership, only four in 10 (38 per cent) Labour voters chose him over Mrs May while 89 per cent of Tory voters backed their party leader.

The poll of more than 10,000 UK adults revealed people were closely divided over whether leaving the EU would make the UK better off or worse off.

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Some 42 per cent of people said it would benefit the country and 40 per cent disagreed.

Nearly half of voters (45 per cent), including more than one third of Remain voters, said the Tories best represented their view of how the UK should handle Brexit and what the UK's future relationship should be.

Voters of all parties favoured prioritising immigration control over access to the single market.

Brexit was seen as the most important issue for the country as a whole by both Leave and Remain voters, however only 39 per cent of respondents said the EU negotiations were one of the top three issues for their families compared to the NHS (58 per cent) and the cost of living (53 per cent).

Tory voters were the most likely to stick with their party regardless of how they voted in the EU referendum.

Seven out of 10 Labour Remain voters and six in 10 Labour Leave voters would vote the same way.

A total of 10,153 adults across the UK were interviewed online between March 21 and 28 for the poll.

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