Poll says architects back Corbyn to win next week

More than half of architects have said they will vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party in next week’s general election, according to a poll by BD’s sister title Building.

The figure of close to 51% is more than a third higher than the 38% who actually voted for the party, then led by Ed Miliband, in the 2015 general election.

Support for the Liberal Democrats among the profession has held up with 20% saying they’ll vote for the party next week – marginally up from the 19.5% who actually voted for the Lib Dems two years ago.

But support for the Conservatives has slipped with 18.5% saying they’ll vote for Theresa May’s party compared to the 24% who voted for the party, then led by David Cameron, back in 2015.

Half of those polled said Labour had the best policies for construction followed by the Lib Dems on 22% and the Tories on 19%.

Labour topped the poll when asked which party would confirm the rights of EU workers in construction already working in the UK with 42% but it slipped to second behind the Lib Dems on the issue of which party would best allow the free movement of skilled construction workers from the EU as part of a new immigration policy. The Conservatives were trusted by just 14% on both these issues.

And 69% of those asked said Labour was the party best placed to increase public spending on schemes such as schools, hospital, housing and transport. The Tories got just 10.5% support on this issue with the Lib Dems only a percentage point higher.

Labour was also the party deemed as the best partner for construction coming top on questions involving training, improving the image of construction and developing off-site technology.

The poll, which surveyed over 1,100 construction professionals, found that the wider industry will also vote Labour in next week’s general election with Jeremy Corbyn’s party leading the second-placed Tories by close to three percentage points

The survey found that just over 39% said they would vote Labour on June 8, ahead of Theresa May’s Conservatives who had 36.5% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats trailed in third place with close to 18%. The Greens had a score of 5% while UKIP polled less than 1%.

The survey split construction into nine sectors, with four coming out in favour of voting for Labour.

Support was strongest from construction professionals working for public bodies, with 53% saying they will vote for the party, followed by 51% of architects and 38% of consultants.

The Conservatives were the most popular party to vote for among contractors, 49%, subcontractors, 48%, housebuilders, 47%, and manufacturers, 41%. Support for the Liberal Democrats comes mainly from subcontractors with 20.7% support, followed by architects with 20.4%.

Respondents to the survey were also asked how they voted in the 2015 election, which revealed that the Tories secured 40.4% of their votes, Labour 31.9%, Lib Dems 14.2%, Greens 8.1% and UKIP 5.3%.