Rishi Sunak's Nightmare Comes True As Reform UK Surges In Polls

The right-wing party has experienced a boost in support after Nigel Farage declared he is running to be an MP.
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Rishi Sunak speaks at the UK's national commemorative event for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Pool via Getty Images

Support for Reform UK has surged since Nigel Farage became the party’s leader and announced he is running to be an MP.

In a nightmare scenario for Rishi Sunak, five new opinion polls tonight showed the right-wing party is squeezing Tory support across the country.

That means the Conservatives are at risk of losing even more seats than would otherwise have been the case - putting Labour well on course for a thumping Commons majority.

A Redfield and Winton Strategies poll put Reform on 17%, just two points behind the Tories, who are down 1 point on 19%.

Survation showed support for Reform had soared by 7 points since last week, putting them on 15%. The Tories were on 23%, again down 1 point.

Pollsters Focaldata also showed Reform support growing, this time by 2 points to 14%, with the Tories down 1 point on 25%.

BMG Research have Reform up 5 points on 16%, with the Conservatives dropping by 4 points to 23%.

Another poll published on Friday morning by Techne showed Reform up 3 points to 15%, with the Tories down a point to 20% and Labour also down one point to 44%.

 

All of the polls were carried out in the wake of Farage’s surprise announcement that he was taking over from Richard Tice as Reform boss and standing as the party’s candidate in Clacton.

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Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on Gold Beach in Arromanches in Normandy, France, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
Aaron Chown - PA Images via Getty Images

They also gave Labour leads of between 19 and 23 points, more than enough to hand the party a thumping win on July 4.

The results are yet another crushing blow to Sunak’s hopes of pulling off a surprise result, with polling day now just four weeks away.

The PM had hoped that calling the surprise poll could give the Tories a chance of an unlikely comeback.

But those hopes are now fading fast, with the Conservatives on course for their worst election result in more than 100 years.