LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May’s lead dropped to six percentage points in a poll published on Tuesday, the latest major poll since the Manchester bombing to indicate the June 8 election could be much tighter than previously thought.
A total of six polls carried out since the May 22 Manchester attack have shown May’s lead over the opposition Labour Party narrowing, suggesting she might not win the landslide predicted just a month ago.
A poll conducted by Survation for ITV’s Good Morning Britain program showed May’s lead had dropped to 6 percentage points from 9 points a week ago and 18 points two weeks ago.
Sterling showed little reaction to the poll, steadying against the dollar after plunging around 2 cents last week.
Sterling is likely to be sensitive to any additional polls showing a tightening race. An ICM poll for the Guardian newspaper will be published later on Tuesday.
May called the snap election in a bid to strengthen her hand in negotiations on Britain’s exit from the EU, to win more time to deal with the impact of the divorce and to strengthen her grip on the Conservative Party.
But if she does not handsomely beat the 12-seat majority her predecessor David Cameron won in 2015, her electoral gamble will have failed and her authority could be undermined just as she enters formal Brexit negotiations.
Strategists at JPMorgan said the pound could be boosted if a center-left coalition that supports a “soft Brexit” — whereby Britain maintains a close relationship with the EU — takes power.
The Survation poll was conducted on May 26 and May 27 in the aftermath of a suicide bombing which killed 22 people in Manchester last Monday and following a government U-turn on unpopular proposals to make elderly people pay more toward their care.
It is still unclear how much Britain knew about suicide bomber Salman Abedi before he carried out the deadliest militant attack on British soil for 12 years. May was interior minister from 2010 to 2016.
The poll found just over half of the 1,009 respondents thought May would make the best prime minister, whilst support for Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn stood at just 30 percent, albeit higher than in previous surveys.
![]()
UK PM May’s election lead narrowing, 6th poll since Manchester attack shows
UK PM May’s election lead narrowing, 6th poll since Manchester attack shows
Hegseth says US ‘can’t stop everything’ that Iran fires even as he asserts air dominance
WASHINGTON (AP): Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged Wednesday that some Iranian air attacks may still hit their targets even as he asserted that US military superiority is quickly giving it control of the Islamic Republic’s airspace.
The US has spared “no expense or capability” to enhance air defense systems to protect American forces and allies in the Middle East, Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon days after the US and Israel attacked Iran in a war that has widened throughout the region.
“This does not mean we can stop everything, but we ensured that the maximum possible defense and maximum possible force protection was set up before we went on offense,” he said.
The acknowledgement that additional drone or missile strikes in the region could cause damage and harm to troops comes as President Donald Trump and top defense leaders have warned that additional American casualties were expected in a conflict that could last months.
US service members “remain in harm’s way, and we must be clear-eyed that the risk is still high,” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the same press conference.
Six soldiers were killed when an Iranian drone strike hit an operations center Sunday in the heart of a civilian port in Kuwait, miles away from the main Army base. The husband of one of the slain soldiers, who was part of a supply and logistics unit based in Iowa, says the center was a shipping container-style building and had no defenses.
Hegseth also signaled a possible longer time frame for the conflict than has previously been floated by the Trump administration, saying it could last eight weeks but that the US has the munitions and the equipment to beat Iran in a war of attrition. He declined to set a specific time range, saying the specific duration of the war would depend on how it unfolds.
“You can say four weeks, but it could be six, it could be eight, it could be three,” he said. “Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo. The enemy is off balance, and we’re going to keep them off balance.”
More forces continue to arrive in the region, including jet fighters and bombers, Hegseth said, and the US “will take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed.”
Tehran has vowed to completely destroy the Middle East’s military and economic infrastructure — signaling the war was nowhere near over and could expand further.
President Donald Trump said this week the campaign are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.”
The US has spared “no expense or capability” to enhance air defense systems to protect American forces and allies in the Middle East, Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon days after the US and Israel attacked Iran in a war that has widened throughout the region.
“This does not mean we can stop everything, but we ensured that the maximum possible defense and maximum possible force protection was set up before we went on offense,” he said.
The acknowledgement that additional drone or missile strikes in the region could cause damage and harm to troops comes as President Donald Trump and top defense leaders have warned that additional American casualties were expected in a conflict that could last months.
US service members “remain in harm’s way, and we must be clear-eyed that the risk is still high,” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the same press conference.
Six soldiers were killed when an Iranian drone strike hit an operations center Sunday in the heart of a civilian port in Kuwait, miles away from the main Army base. The husband of one of the slain soldiers, who was part of a supply and logistics unit based in Iowa, says the center was a shipping container-style building and had no defenses.
Hegseth also signaled a possible longer time frame for the conflict than has previously been floated by the Trump administration, saying it could last eight weeks but that the US has the munitions and the equipment to beat Iran in a war of attrition. He declined to set a specific time range, saying the specific duration of the war would depend on how it unfolds.
“You can say four weeks, but it could be six, it could be eight, it could be three,” he said. “Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo. The enemy is off balance, and we’re going to keep them off balance.”
More forces continue to arrive in the region, including jet fighters and bombers, Hegseth said, and the US “will take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed.”
Tehran has vowed to completely destroy the Middle East’s military and economic infrastructure — signaling the war was nowhere near over and could expand further.
President Donald Trump said this week the campaign are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.”
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.