Second poll now shows Tories closing gap on Labour as election battles heat up ahead of July 4

The Tories are closing the gap on Labour, a second poll showed just days before the general election on July 4.

The Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey put Labour on 41 per cent (down one point), Conservatives 22 per cent (up three points) and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK 16 per cent (down two points).

The Liberal Democrats were on ten per cent (down one point), Greens six per cent (up one point), and SNP three per cent (up one point), all compared to June 26/27.The changes mean Labour’s lead has dropped from 23 points to 19 points, still a large gap.

But polls often get closer as election day approaches as voters focus more on the choices between the different parties and their leaders.

The latest poll comes just a day after a Savanta survey for the Telegraph on voter intention showed the Conservatives have closed their gap behind Labour to 15 points, the smallest lead for Sir Keir Starmer’s party by this pollster for a month.

It put Labour on 39 per cent (up one point from June 26-28), the Tories 24 per cent (up three points), Reform UK 13 per cent (down one point), the Lib Dems ten per cent (down one point), Greens four per cent (down two points), and SNP three per cent (up one point).Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta said: "This is the highest Conservative vote share in a Savanta poll since early June - or more specifically, pre D-Day debacle. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, this result - if replicated on election night - would still mean a historic Labour victory.

"But these sorts of numbers imply heavy losses rather than electoral oblivion.

“Alongside Reform UK looking like they could be slipping, this is as close to good news as the Conservative Party gets these days."

Later in the morning, Keiran Pedley, director of politics at pollster Ipsos, tweeted: “Not a prediction but don’t think we should be surprised if there is a bit of late movement this election.

“We’ve always known there are a good chunk of wavering 2019 Cons & people that may change their mind more generally.”

The latest findings come as Reform has been hit with a storm over racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments by some of its candidates and activists.

Mr Farage has sought to distance himself from the remarks of some of his party’s activists.

Ahead of the final day of campaigning, Sir Keir Starmer urged Labour activists to "get this over the line".

Speaking to party members in a community centre in Norton Canes, Staffordshire, Sir Keir said: "The choice is stark, to continue with the same as we've had for 14 long years which is not going to change, or to turn the page and start to rebuild our country with Labour.

"So if you want to change, you have to vote for it. Change doesn't happen unless you vote for it.

"So let's take that out to every doorstep, to every voter, let's get this over the line, let's get that Labour government."

But Rishi Sunak insisted the outcome of the General Election was not a "foregone conclusion" and that he was "feeling energised" on the campaign trail.

The Prime Minister defended his focus on what should be safe Tory seats.

Mr Sunak kicked off a final push for votes on Tuesday with a pre-dawn visit to an Ocado packing plant in Bedfordshire and stops in Oxfordshire seats where the Conservatives won in 2019 by a sizeable margin.

In Banbury, where the Tories' majority at the last election was 16,800, Mr Sunak was challenged over whether his defensive campaigning was a sign of conceding defeat.

He stressed: "We have been to every part of the country, every type of seat.

"I don't take any vote for granted."

He denied the results coming in overnight into July 5 were inevitable.

"I know there are lots of people who want to tell everyone it's a foregone conclusion but I don't believe that."

Ahead of polling day on Thursday, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who has grabbed the limelight with a series of stunts, said he is "proud" of a campaign which he said had "brought care out of the shadows".

Among a series of manifesto pledges on, the Liberal Democrats have called for free personal care in England, a £2 an hour minimum wage boost for carers, and a cross-party commission to "forge a long-term agreement on sustainable funding for social care".

Sir Ed has also spoken in a widely-shared party election broadcast about his own caring responsibilities, for his son John and previously for his mother Nina, who died of cancer when he was aged 15.