UK Election: New Poll Shows Reform Ahead of Tories
The Facts
A new poll conducted by YouGov for The Times shows Nigel Farage’s Reform UK pulling ahead of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservatives, marking the first time the right-wing upstart party surpassed the Tories.
While promising for the party, Reform (19%) was just one point ahead of the Tories (18%), and both conservative parties remain far behind left-wing Labour (37%). The survey of 2,211 was conducted from June 12-13, following Sunak’s pledge to cut £17B ($21.7B) in taxes for working people.
The Spin
Nigel Farage and Reform have surpassed the Tories as the main party on the British right, and Thursday’s YouGov poll is just the beginning of a seismic political shift. After years of being let down by the milquetoast Conservatives, patriotic Brits are flocking to Reform’s common-sense message of limiting immigration and putting the UK first. The Tories are in deep trouble, and leaders such as Rishi Sunak only have themselves to blame for betraying their constituents.
While many Brits have grown tired of the Tories after a decade-plus of Conservative rule, it would be foolish for the party to take a hard-right turn. Labour has been poised to win this year’s election for quite some time, and Reform’s recent polling rise cannot be considered a long-term indicator of sentiment. The political pendulum will always swing back and forth, and the Conservatives will only regain power by running as a center-right party, not a Faragist, nationalist party.
Nigel Farage has been a human wrecking ball that has completely upended the Tories. His brand of politics is on the fringe, but he is exposing a major divide on the British right that has exposed the Conservatives as a weak party with little grassroots support. It remains to be seen how Reform will perform on election day, but the party’s rise could facilitate a massive majority for Labour.