But with her party struggling for funds Ms Badenoch is set to have dinner with Middlesbrough football club owner Steve Gibson who threw his weight behind Labour last year along with many of leading business figures but is now understood to be unhappy with Keir Starmer’s government.
The Techne poll comes after Reform UK have been surging ahead with one poll last week putting Nigel Farage’s party 11 points ahead of the Tories.
However, Mr Gibson is a former Labour councillor and supported the party’s candidate against Tory Teesside mayor Lord Ben Houchen last year, as well as backing Sir Keir in the general election.
The poll showed that the Tories had gone down one point to 22 per cent while Labour had climbed a point to 26 per cent.
While Mr Gibson did not want to discuss the reasons for his meeting with Ms Badenoch, it has been claimed that he was angered by the national insurance hike in the Budget and Labour’s plans to impose a new football regulator.
