Tories losing more voters to Farage’s Reform UK than Labour, poll finds

YouGov survey suggests Keir Starmer still struggling to win over 2019 Conservative voters

Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are losing more of their 2019 voters to the right-wing Reform UK party than to Labour, a shock new poll suggests.

Only one in 10 voters (11 per cent) who backed the Tories at the last general election have switched to Keir Starmer’s party, a new YouGov survey found.

The poll found that slightly more (12 per cent) of voters who supported the Tories last time have switched to Reform UK.

The results suggests that Labour is still struggling to win over Conservative voters – and that Mr Sunak is cooming under increasing pressure from the right.

The party co-founded by Nigel Farage – who remains honorary president – has seen its rating rise in recent months. The most recent Opinium poll has Reform UK up two points on 8 per cent.

Currently led by Richard Tice after Mr Farage handed over the reins in 2021, it is made up of former Brexit Party and Ukip politicians and members.

The YouGov poll for Sky News shows the parties unchanged, putting Labour on 48 per cent, some 24 points ahead of the Tories.

But Mr Sunak and his team may be able to draw some comfort from the results among undecided 2019 Tory voters. The Tory leader gets a net positive rating, scoring +7 points, while Sir Keir Starmer gets –61.

While 50 per cent of 2019 Tory voters say they will stick with the party at the general election in 2024, 43 per cent said they would not.

Nigel Farage with Reform UK leader Richard Tice (PA)

In the aftermath of the Conservatives damaging double by-election defeat in the previously safe seats of Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire, senior Tories argued that their voters had stayed at home rather than switch to Labour.

Yougov pollster Patrick English, said the latest survey does indeed show some “encouraging numbers” for the Tories in one “crucial” group – the party’s 2019 backers.

“They rate Rishi Sunak higher than they rate Keir Starmer. They rate the Conservative Party higher than they do the Labour Party,” Mr English said.

He added: “They care about the issues the Conservatives want to talk about, such as immigration, to a much greater extent than those who are ready to make the jump to Labour.

“And that’s why at the moment we think only around one in 10 of them are telling us that they’re seriously considering voting Labour at the next election.”

The latest YouGov survey finds that 42 per cent of 2019 Labour voters think that Sir Keir has badly handled his response to Israel-Hamas conflict

Only 26 per cent think the Labour leader has handled it well. According to a DeltaPoll survey this week, Mr Starmer’s net approval has dropped by 12 per cent, from +7 to –5.