THE Tories are heading for a drubbing in today’s elections, with polls predicting the party could even finish in fifth place.
It’s thought at least two-thirds of Tory voters will instead back Nigel Farage’s Brexit party.
READ MORE: Why Scots must wait longer than rUK for EU election results
It’s not only the electorate who are abandoning Theresa May. Yesterday, the London Evening Standard – edited by former chancellor George Osborne – backed the LibDems.
The newspaper’s leader said May’s time as Prime Minister was “finished”.
“She should have gone with dignity in 2017; instead her weak party indulged her weakness.”
The paper added that Labour’s Brexit position had been “a study in political cowardice”.
It concluded: “This has left the door open to the Liberal Democrats.
“They had the courage from the start to say the referendum result was a mistake – and Britain needed to think again.
“As a result, voters have started to think again about them. We wish them well.”
%image('9863717', type="article-full", alt="First Minister Nicola Sturgeon released an open letter to Scottish voters")
According to a YouGov poll for The Times, the Brexit Party is on 37%, the LibDems are second on 19% with Labour in third on 13%, the Greens are on 12%, and the Tories are on just 7%. In 2017, Labour and the Tories secured 82.4% of the vote, the paper’s poll suggests this could fall to 20%.
Overall, 65% of Tory 2017 voters say they are backing the Leave-supporting Brexit Party, with 8% switching to the LibDems.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Voting SNP shows Scotland has had enough of being ignored
The poll also says Labour has retained just 31% of the voters who backed them in 2017.
Michael Cashman, a Labour peer, quit the party on Tuesday night to back the LibDems.
Farage had his campaign visit to Kent cut short, when he was reportedly trapped on his Brexit Party bus, as it was surrounded by protesters carrying milkshakes.
It came just days after he was pelted by a £5.25 banana and salted caramel milkshake while campaigning in Newcastle.
His bus driver, Michael Botton, told Kent Live: “There are a couple of guys standing over there with milkshakes, they were going to throw them over him.
“But the police are there, we’ve spotted them and now Nigel isn’t getting off the bus.”
READ MORE: Nigel Farage 'trapped on bus' after people turn up with milkshakes
Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon has written an open letter to voters in Scotland urging them to back the SNP to “stop Brexit.”
“Please let your voice be heard, think about the generations to come, send a positive message of hope for the future,” she said.
On a campaign visit to Edinburgh, the outgoing LibDem leader Vince Cable said it was he and his colleagues who were the real party of Remain.
“Here in Scotland, Remainers can stop the Brexit party in their tracks by electing a Liberal Democrat,” he said.
In a last minute pitch to their supporters, Labour said today’s vote was a “chance to really fight the far right”.
MEP David Martin said that while “milkshakes may make the headlines” they “won’t stop people like Farage from dominating our politics with their hate-filled messages”.
“The Brexit Party is riding high in the polls to be elected to the European Parliament tomorrow. A party with no well-developed or well-meaning policies. A party that incites division and fear.”
However, Ruth Davidson said today’s vote was really about independence.
With polls showing huge support for the SNP and the Greens, the Tory chief conceded that Scotland could return a majority of pro-indy MEPs.
Writing in the Daily Mail, Davidson said Yessers would see that as “the excuse they need to put the indyref bandwagon back on the road.”
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