Farage's Leadership Boosts Reform UK in Polls, Rattles Conservatives

Support for Britain's Reform UK party has surged just shy of the ruling Conservatives following Nigel Farage's return to leadership. A YouGov poll indicates Farage's comeback is intensifying the split among right-of-centre voters, easing the path for the Labour Party. Farage notably campaigns in Clacton-on-Sea.

Support for Britain's Reform UK party has risen to just two percentage points short of the ruling Conservatives since Nigel Farage's decision to take over leadership and stand in a July 4 election, a YouGov opinion poll published on Wednesday showed. The result supports the view that Farage's return has dealt a fresh blow to Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's chances of holding on to power by deepening the split among Britain's right-of-centre voters and thereby further clearing a path to victory for Keir Starmer's centre-left Labour Party.

The poll, conducted entirely after Farage's surprise decision to return to frontline politics on Monday, put the right-wing Reform on 17%, with the governing Conservative Party on 19%. The opposition Labour Party topped the poll with 40%. YouGov said they had updated their methodology for the poll, which had resulted in a smaller lead for Labour than it had previously showed.

But the changes did not affect the increase for Reform, which was three percentage points under both the old and new methodology, YouGov said. Farage has stood unsuccessfully for parliament seven times but is still one of the most influential British politicians of his generation, putting pressure on a succession of prime ministers to take tougher positions on the European Union and immigration.

He is standing for election to parliament in Clacton-on-Sea, southeast England, where his campaign launch on Tuesday underscored the sharp divide he inspires among voters: crowds turned out to cheer and welcome him, but he also had a milkshake thrown in his face. Despite the narrow gap to Sunak's Conservatives, Reform's support is more evenly spread across the country compared to their rival's more concentrated distribution. Britain's electoral system does not have proportional representation meaning Reform are therefore not expected to win many, if any, parliamentary seats.

The Conservatives, facing an end to 14 years in government, are seeking to use this to persuade voters wavering between the two parties, warning that voting for Reform would make life easier for Labour.

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