Boris Johnson has opened up a 12-point lead over Ken Livingstone in the race to become mayor of London, according to an opinion poll published today. The survey for the London Evening Standard says that 49% of voters would use their first-preference votes to back Johnson, the Conservative candidate, while only 37% would vote to give Labour's Livingstone a third term in office.| It's not clear to me that replacing Red Ken with a dude named "Boris" is a step forward. But I don't know much about London city politix, so I'm willing to be educated. |
YouGov had Livingstone ahead by four points in January, but by February it said that Johnson was leading by five points. Today's figures suggest that the Tory candidate has now opened a commanding lead. With more than six weeks to go until polling day, Livingstone – who formally launches his campaign tomorrow – will be hoping that voters will turn away from Johnson as media scrutiny intensifies in the run-up to the election.