June 5, 2017

General election 2017 press endorsements: Tories backed by 80 per cent of UK national Sunday newspaper market

Britain’s Sunday newspapers have overwhelmingly endorsed the Conservative Party ahead of Thursday’s general election.

Backing Theresa May at the polls, with leader column headlines, are:

Sunday Times – “Wake up, smell the coffee and vote Conservative”
Sunday Telegraph – “Vote Conservative for an independent, prosperous Britain”
Mail on Sunday – “Your country needs you… to save it from a man who would wreck its safety and prosperity”
Sunday Express – “Vote Theresa May for both a better Brexit and Great Britain we can all be proud of”
Sun on Sunday – “It is in the interests of Britain to vote Conservative and keep Jeremy Corbyn out of government”

Overall the five titles have an average daily circulation of more than 4m (ABC figures for April 2017), equal to an 80 per cent share of the audience for the UK’s national Sunday newspapers.

The Labour Party have only received one full endorsement in the Sunday titles, from the Sunday Mirror, which headlined its leader column: “We need a PM with a common touch… and it’s not wobbly Theresa May.”

Both the Observer and Sunday People urged readers to vote tactically against their local Conservative MPs.

Combined, these three titles have an average daily circulation of just under 1m (ABC figures for April 2017) or a 20 per cent share of the audience for the UK’s national Sunday newspapers.