Throughout this election the Evening Standard/YouGov polls have given the appearance not so much of providing information on Londoners' views but rather of trying to influence voters and the media by showing big leads for Boris Johnson when every other conventional poll has shown Livingstone and Johnson to be neck and neck, and indeed, Livingstone ahead.

‘This poll is a transparent attempt by the Evening Standard/YouGov to give Boris Johnson a more credible lead by manipulating their figures in ways which have no credibility. For example, one of the biggest differences between YouGov and conventional polls has been that conventional polls have always shown a big lead for Livingstone among young people, while YouGov have claimed the reverse.

‘This poll, however, claims that Boris Johnson's supposed YouGov lead among 18-34 year olds has fallen from 11 points to zero in the space of four days with nothing that explains this.

‘Even more bizarrely, according to the Evening Standard/YouGov figures more than 100 people polled have no age at all!

‘Another big difference between YouGov and conventional polls is that YouGov's last poll claimed a supposed lead for Johnson of 14 points among the ABC1 social groups, this poll just three days later would have us believe that this has moved to a Johnson lead in these social groups of only 6 points.

‘All of the serious evidence is that this election will be neck and neck and the biggest determinant of its outcome will be the turn-out, as conventional polls have shown that the more people vote, the bigger is Ken Livingstone's lead.'