VOTERS believe Boris Johnson should resign after becoming the first Prime Minister to be criminally sanctioned, two snap polls have revealed.
A survey of 2,464 adults by YouGov, suggested 57 per cent of people think the Conservative leader should stand down over the partygate affair, with just 30 per cent wanting him to stay in place.
While Savanta ComRes found that 61 per cent of adults in UK want the Prime Minister to quit.
However, that’s down on earlier in the year - before the war in Ukraine - when 69 per cent said he should resign following the publication of Sue Gray’s initial findings in January.
Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak have all been given fixed penalty notices for breaching strict rules over gatherings during the lockdown.
The three fines relate to the Prime Minister’s birthday party in Downing Street on Jun 19.
Fifty fines have been now been issued by the Metropolitan Police in relation to events held across Whitehall during the lockdown.
The two polling firms asked voters if they believed Mr Johnson had knowingly lied to parliament. The answer was a resounding yes.
YouGov found that 75 per cent of responders thought Mr Johnson knowingly misled MPs, while Savanta Comres found that 71 per cent thought he had.
The YouGov poll found that even a majority of Tory voters (55 per cent) thought he was guilty of telling untruths in the Commons.
A majority of voters in both polls also said Rishi Sunak should also resign after receiving his own fine.
The grim polling for the Tories will worry candidates ahead of next month's local elections.
Commenting on the findings, Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta ComRes said: “The fact here that a smaller proportion of the public think the PM should resign now than did in January, despite being issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice, feels crucial, and will potentially make Conservative MPs think twice before writing any letters of no confidence.
“There’s an implication in these findings that the worst is over when it comes to Partygate and, although I’m not sure that’s strictly true, the impact that these fines will have is perhaps less than what we would have thought earlier in the year.”
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