Reform UK overtakes PM Sunak’s Conservatives in opinion poll
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Reform’s poll rating has risen since Brexit champion Nigel Farage returned to lead the party.
PHOTO: AFP
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LONDON - Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party overtook Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party in an opinion poll for the first time on June 13, ahead of Britain’s election on July 4.
The poll by YouGov for the Times newspaper put Reform UK on 19 per cent, up from 17 per cent previously, and the Conservatives unchanged on 18 per cent. The opposition Labour Party topped the poll with 37 per cent.
The survey of 2,211 people was carried out June 12 and 13, after Mr Sunak pledged to cut £17 billion (S$29 billion) of taxes for working people in his party’s election manifesto.
Reform’s poll rating has risen since Mr Farage, best known for his successful campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, said he was returning to front-line politics, taking over leadership of the party and standing for election to Parliament.
“This is the inflection point, the only wasted vote now is a Conservative vote, we are the challengers to Labour and we are on our way,” Mr Farage said, in a video posted on social media platform X.
A small right-wing party, founded in 2018 as the Brexit Party, Reform backs populist causes such as tougher immigration laws.
Mr Sunak’s campaign has also been hit after he drew sharp criticism for leaving D-Day memorial events earlier than other world leaders.
Other opinion polls show the Conservatives much further ahead of Reform.
Despite overtaking Mr Sunak’s Conservatives in the June 13 poll – which reflected the share of a nationwide vote – Reform is not forecast to win many parliamentary seats.
Its support is spread comparatively evenly across the country, whereas backing for the larger and more established parties like Labour and the Conservatives is more concentrated by geographic areas.
Britain has a “winner takes it all” electoral system with no proportional representation, which means Reform could pick up millions of votes across the country without coming first in one of the 650 individual constituencies that make up the British Parliament. REUTERS
