A NEW STUDY suggests that the Stroud seat is very high on the Labour Party's list of targets at the general election. 

The election is being held using new constituency boundaries, which means the results cannot be compared directly with what happened at the last general election in 2019.

To measure how well the parties do at the election, and to determine which seats they need to win to form a government, a set of notional results for the 2019 election has been calculated to show what would have happened if that contest had taken place using the new boundaries.

These notional results have been compiled by Professor Colin Rallings and Professor Michael Thrasher of the University of Plymouth, on behalf of the PA news agency, the BBC, ITN and Sky News.

The lists of target seats are based on the size of the swing needed to gain the seat based on the notional outcome in 2019.

The top 100 targets have been listed for Labour and the Conservatives, the top 50 for the Liberal Democrats, and the top 10 for other parties (top nine for the SNP, as they can only make a maximum of nine gains).

Stroud is 14th on the list of the Labour Party's top 100 targets.

Labour's candidate for Stroud, Dr Simon Opher, said: "People get very excited about polls like this, especially the pollsters.

"But what I'm excited by is the chance to make life better for everyone in the Stroud constituency. 

"People are crying out for change, and for a Government that puts people before party.

"Labour represents that change for the better - a real chance to rebuild our country.

"But this election is not in the bag - Stroud is a very close marginal between Labour and the Conservatives - and we need every vote we can get to secure a Labour victory."

A new YouGov poll published last night, Monday, suggests that Labour will get 50 per cent of the vote in Stroud, Conservatives 25 per cent, Green 10 per cent, Reform 8.2 per cent and the Liberal Democrats 4 per cent.