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Reform UK strengthens polling lead as Conservatives drop to fourth place

20 May 2025 3 minute read
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Image: Ben Whitley/PA Wire

Reform UK is the most popular political party among voters and the Conservatives have fallen into fourth place, the latest opinion polling reveals.

Nigel Farage’s party has the backing of 29% of the public, according to YouGov’s latest voting intention survey, up 1% from last week.

Labour follows on 22%, down 1% from the previous week as ministers continue to face criticism over welfare cuts.

The Liberal Democrats are in third place in the YouGov polling with 17%, having overtaken the Conservatives, who are on 16%.

This is the lowest-ever vote share YouGov has recorded for the Tories, and the last time they were in fourth place in the pollster’s rankings was in June 2019, at the end of Theresa May’s premiership.

“Working flat-out”

Dame Priti Patel, the Conservative shadow foreign secretary, told Times Radio her party’s position is not “at all surprising” after its general election defeat almost a year ago.

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak called the election in Downing Street on May 22 last year.

Senior Tory Dame Priti was insistent her party’s popularity could be recovered.

When asked if she thought the Conservatives could definitely come back, Dame Priti told the broadcaster: “Of course we can. We’ve absolutely done it before and we are working, I can tell you now, we’re working flat-out to ensure that we can absolutely do that.

“But it takes time. Winning back the trust and confidence of the British people takes time.”

The Greens are fifth place in YouGov’s survey, with 10% of voting intention among the 2,222 British adults who took part between May 18 and 19.

Elsewhere, former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg warned Labour will lose the trust of the public if it does not tell voters a compelling story about its plans for Government.

“Storytelling matters enormously for the success of any government,” said the former Liberal Democrat leader, as he spoke at an Institute for Government event in central London.

“Pay heed”

The coalition government, in which Sir Nick served between 2010 and 2015, managed to tell a “compelling story” at first, he said, but events “washed over us”.

Sir Nick added: “Labour should pay heed lest they commit a similar error. If you are running a government, you must, above all, have a clear story about where the country has come from, where it is, and where you want it to go.”

Ministers are having a difficult time justifying cuts to welfare and the winter fuel payment, as well as tightened Government spending limits, because they spent years insisting “fiscal discipline is morally repugnant” while in opposition, the former deputy prime minister added.

Sir Nick, who recently stood down as an executive of Facebook’s parent company Meta, added: “It would be easier to have some sympathy with the decisions the Labour Government has made in recent months on welfare reform, increasing tuition fees, on local government funding, on departmental spending limits, if they hadn’t been so insufferably sanctimonious in condemning similar measures during the coalition.

“This is what happens when you appear to have few bedrock principles about the balance of spending and borrowing, and instead flip almost overnight from condemning fiscal orthodoxy to becoming its hapless prisoner.”


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Jeff
Jeff
17 days ago

Get practicing your goose stepping. Nige the useless is running for PM.

Strange how he is in the lime light all the time, a hateful and damaging politician but boosted certainly on twitter. Almost as if a lot of money is being spent by certain think tanks to get this shyster over the line.

Garycymru
Garycymru
17 days ago

It’s horrifying that there are actually people in Wales are even thinking about voting for him and his band of wronguns. We really do need to keep this filth out of our communities.

Howard Humphries
Howard Humphries
14 days ago

He’s only so popular because there’s no competition the Tories tried and failed followed by Labour who robbed the pensioners and the Lib Dems are a joke. this Country needs change we are sick of the same old same old two party politics

FrankC
FrankC
14 days ago

You’re so right. What we really need is to vote for a bunch of racist, English nationalist grifting scum. Everything will be fine then.🤪

Ernie The Smallholder
Ernie The Smallholder
14 days ago

Plaid Cymru provides the only solution for Wales.

If you are in England, you will find that the Lib Dems are one of the only parties with real vision for England’s future.

Ernie The Smallholder
Ernie The Smallholder
14 days ago

We need Plaid Cymru.
It is the only solution for Wales.
Almost all of other parties, including ukip/reform just consider Wales is a country at all.
We have NO place in their United Kingdom. They are using us.

I would certainly advise the Liberal democrats in England to concentrate on community politics and transferring real power and wealth from the billionaires to the people.

Reclaim the city, the stock exchange should be for everyone. Shares are your savings and security. Search for Gary Stevenson videos on youtube.

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