A new YouGov poll published this morning makes for grim reading for Kemi Badenoch’s team. It finds that, in the wake of the local elections, Reform are now on 29 points compared to Labour on 22 and the Tories on just 17, with the Liberal Democrats on 16. That is the joint-lowest ever Conservative poll rating, tying with June 2019, during the dark days of the Brexit wars. According to YouGov:
Naturally, these results are quite striking, but they are probably in line with what we would expect after the locals. With Reform performing so well Thursday, and the positive media coverage that is associate with such a result, it is not surprising they have received this boost. The test will be whether this is a blip or whether it will sustain over the coming weeks.
Reform believes that the Tory vote has even further to bottom out. For the past two years, the challenge for Nigel Farage’s advisors has been to convince voters that a vote for Reform is not a wasted vote.
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