British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives suffered a further fall in support after five party officials, including two candidates, came under investigation over bets on the timing on an early election, according to a new poll.
The scandal is undermining the Conservatives’ efforts to close the gap on the opposition Labour Party’s large poll lead eight days before the national election.
The expanding number of Conservative officials under investigation has resulted in support for the party falling to 18%, down 2 percentage points, the poll Survation published on Wednesday showed. The Labour Party was on 41%.
Since the betting charges first emerged, the conduct of government has become the second most important issue for voters behind the cost of living crisis, the poll found.
The betting scandal intensified further late on Tuesday after a cabinet minister said he had placed three bets on the date of the election, but that he was not being investigated by the gambling regulator. A Labour candidate also admitted placing a bet against himself.
Both the Conservatives and Labour on Tuesday withdrew support for candidates under investigation. Sunak had faced days of criticism for initially failing to withdraw or suspend the candidates being investigated by the regulator.
The Conservatives eventually dropped Craig Williams and Laura Saunders, members of the Prime Minister’s inner circle who were under investigation by the Gambling Commission.
While Sunak said he was “extremely angry” about the scandal, he previously stopped short of withdrawing support so the investigations could finish before any action was taken.
This is the last thing that Rishi Sunak would have wanted given the unfavourable projections by election analysts. A poll indicated that Sunak might become the first British Prime Minister to lose his own seat in a national election.
The scandal has overshadowed the Conservative campaign, which has already faced many setbacks.
Expressing his anger and frustration over the allegations, the British Prime Minister said, “I was incredibly angry, incredibly angry, to learn of these allegations. It’s a really serious matter. It’s right that they’re being investigated properly by the relevant law enforcement authorities, including a criminal investigation by the police.’’
Speaking at the BBC Question Time leaders’ special televised debate on Thursday, Rishi Sunak said, “And I want to be crystal clear that if anyone has broken the rules, they should face the full force of the law. That’s what those investigations are there to do. And I hope that they do their work as quickly and as thoroughly as possible.’’
Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Minister, said on Wednesday that more candidates could be involved in the scandal and there should be a debate about political betting.
For the poll, Survation interviewed 1,022 adults in Britain by phone between June 21 and 25.
Betting is legal in the UK but placing bets with the advantage of insider information constitutes cheating. Under Section 42 of the UK’s Gambling Act 2005, it is an offence to cheat at gambling or to do anything that allows someone else to cheat.
It could come with a jail term attached if it leads to a prosecution.
(With Inputs from Reuters)
