Friday, 15 November 2024

Populist Reform UK Party Overtakes Tories in Support Among Men and Red Wall Voters

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Populist Reform UK Party Overtakes Tories in Support Among Men and Red Wall Voters
Former Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson (L) and Leader of Reform UK party RichardHENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images

The Nigel Farage-founded Reform UK party has surpassed the governing Conservatives among men for the first time, a survey from YouGov found.

Reform UK, the re-branded Brexit Party, now enjoys more support among male voters in Britain than the Tories as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak continues to struggle to connect with the public.

A survey conducted for The Times of London by the YouGov polling firm found that 19 per cent of men now support the Reform UK party, compared to 17 per cent for the Tories. This represents a precipitous decline in male support for the Tories, who earned 47 per cent of all male votes in the 2019 general election.

Overall, the insurgent populist party has surged to 15 per cent in the polls and only trails the Conservatives by four points nationally, with the Tories dropping to 19 per cent.

However, both Reform and the Conservatives continue to lag behind the left-wing Labour Party, which despite being out of step with the public on many issues, has been able to maintain its commanding lead, with 44 per cent support.

The poll also found that the Reform party is now leading the Tories in Red Wall seats, those constituencies in the Midlands and North of the country that traditionally voted for Labour but supported Boris Johnson in 2019 to “get Brexit done”. The survey found that Reform now enjoys 18 per cent of support in those seats, compared to 17 per cent for the Conservatives.

Commenting on the survey, Anthony Wells of YouGov said: “The Tories have dipped under 20 per cent. Their performance is deteriorating and Reform's is getting better. Inevitably, some groups are showing a Reform lead.”

The poll comes amid rampant Westminster speculation about possibly replacing Rishi Sunak at the helm of the party before the country heads into a general election, which is expected to be held sometime in the autumn.

It is unclear, however, if replacing Sunak would do the party much good, with a poll from Opinium finding that three out of the four top candidates to take over in Downing Street, Home Secretary James Cleverly, Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, all projected to fair worse in an election than Sunak.

Only House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt was recorded as having a better prospect at victory than Sunak, yet, even she was still projected to lose by double digits to the Labour Party.

The growing perception of a sinking ship has seen two major defections from the Conservatives in as many weeks, with former Tory party deputy chairman Lee Anderson breaking ranks and joining Reform after being suspended for asserting that far-left London Mayor Sadiq Khan is under the “control” of radical Islamists.

The defection of Anderson, a former miner turned politician, suggested to Reform UK honorary president Nigel Farage that the party intends on challenging Labour in the Red Wall working class areas in the Midlands and North of the country.

On Friday, it was revealed that Reform secured another significant defection, with ex-Conservative party candidate for the mayoral election in Greater Manchester, Dan Barker quitting the party in favour of Reform.

Remarking on his party's surging support, Reform UK leader Richard Tice said this week: “You can see who's got the upward trend, who has got the wind in their sails, and who, frankly, is sinking.” The Reform boss went on to predict that there will be more defections from the Tories to his party in the coming days.

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