Reform UK has become the third-largest political party with 11 percent electoral support ahead of this year’s general election, according to a voter poll.
In the latest national Westminster voting intention poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, the Labour Party maintains a 16 percent lead (at 43 percent), while the Conservatives have gained ground. This shift signals a change since December, when Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party held a four-point higher advantage over the Tories.
Ben Habib, former MEP and now deputy leader of Reform UK, told The Epoch Times: “It doesn’t surprise me that Reform UK is rising in the polls. The political environment is extremely febrile, much worse than it was … The British people are now realising that they cannot trust the two main parties. And that’s been driven home every day.”
The Conservative Party currently sits at 27 percent, showing a 3 percent rise from before Christmas. The Liberal Democrats stand at 10 percent, suffering a 1 percent decrease.
Mr. Habib added that both the Labour and Tory parties are, “Delivering bigger spending, bigger taxation, more regulations, a reluctance to do what’s right for the British people,” while, “Grandstanding on things like net zero, which is highly inflationary, mass immigration to cover up their failings in the labour market and so on.”
15 Percent of Tories Head to Reform
The latest data reveals that while 86 percent of individuals who voted for Labour in the last general election plan on voting for the party again, just 54 percent of 2019 Conservative voters plan to stick with the Tories.Fifteen percent of former Conservative voters now indicate a preference for Labour, while an additional 15 percent are leaning toward supporting Reform UK if an election were to take place tomorrow.
Mr. Habib, who is running as a candidate for Reform in the upcoming by-election in Wellingborough, stated that his party was no longer “that much of an insurgent anymore.” He added, “I think the political landscape has increasingly got used to seeing some form of UKIP, Brexit Party or Reform UK around and are beginning to realise that they have to support it if they want change.
“You won’t get change unless you vote for it. And I think that message is slowly getting home to the electorate. Both main parties, Labour and the Tories need to watch out. Deservedly, they should be booted out of office.”
David Campbell Bannerman, former Tory MEP and current chairman of the Conservative Democratic Organisation, told The Epoch Times by text, “This polling confirms that the real threat to the Tories comes from Conservative voters staying on strike as now or moving to Reform out of frustration at the performance of Sunak. Unless Sunak is replaced shortly, Reform’s growth will send the Conservative vote over a precipice.”
‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’
Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK, told The Epoch Times, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”Speaking via text, Mr. Tice, the incumbent successor of Nigel Farage, also criticised the Tory’s focus on climate policy, laying out one of Reform’s most controversial policy points. He said, “We must scrap the whole of net zero which is destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs and increasing energy bills by over £1,000 extra per year.”
Mr. Campbell Bannerman said he believes the dip in Tory support was due to “non-turnout” rather than “switches to Labour or the damaged Lib Dems.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is currently facing criticism over his tenure as postal affairs minister from 2010 to 2012 during the coalition government, amid the ongoing fallout from the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Mr. Davey has come under fire for refusing to meet with a key victim of the scandal, Alan Bates, in 2010, stating that he did not believe it “would serve any purpose.” He has since claimed that he was “deeply misled by Post Office executives.”
Lib Dems Labelled a ‘Footnote’
Mr. Campbell Bannerman added, “Davey’s role in the sub-postmaster scandal may well see him having to be the 32nd person he has demanded a resignation from.”Mr. Davey has been well known for calling for the resignation of a litany of 31 members from both of the leading parties.
Lembit Opik, the former Liberal Democrat MP, told The Epoch Times back in December that with the way polling was heading, he now viewed the Lib Dems as “a footnote in politics right now, nothing more than that.”
In Redfield & Wilton’s latest poll, both the Green and Scottish National Parties showed slight decline, sitting at 5 percent and 3 percent of the vote, respectively.
