Reform UK pulls to within two points of Tories in latest YouGov poll

Published

4 months ago

June 5, 2024

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Reform UK has pulled to within two points of the Conservatives, according to the latest YouGov poll of the election campaign for Sky News.

The latest exclusive weekly survey, conducted on Monday and Tuesday before the head-to-head TV debate, puts Labour on 40%, the Tories on 19%, Reform UK on 17%, the Liberal Democrats on 10% and the Greens on 7%.

Most of the poll, which was carried out using different methodology to last week’s survey, was conducted after Nigel Farage became leader of Reform on Monday.

Compared to the last voting intention poll taken on Thursday and Friday, the Conservatives are down two, Labour is down six, the Lib Dems are up two and Reform is up two.

This means under the new methodology, the lead for Labour is 21 points.

YouGov interviewed 2,144 GB adults online.

The impact of the methodological change – which applies modelling to turnout and the behaviour of don’t knows – is typically to reduce the Labour lead by three and increase the Lib Dem share by about two. There is usually no boost to the Tory share.

YouGov says the impact on this particular poll of the methodological change is slightly bigger because of rounding, and the Labour lead under the old method would have been 27 points, up from the 25-point lead at the end of last week.

The poll is likely to worry some Conservatives, who fear losing voters on the right of their party to Reform UK – especially now Mr Farage is at the helm.

The veteran Eurosceptic on Monday announced he would not only take over as Reform’s leader, but also stand as a candidate in Clacton, Essex.

This will be his eighth time trying to be an MP, having never previously succeeded.

He had initially ruled out standing but said he had a “terrible sense of guilt” for not putting himself forward when the election was called.

Mr Farage has ruled out doing a deal with the Tories – as he did in 2019 when Reform was known as the Brexit party – saying at his campaign launch that he has been “betrayed by a Conservative Party I have given considerable help to”.

He said his goal was to win “millions” more votes than UKIP had, which was another party he previously led, and make Reform the official opposition.

A YouGov MRP poll of 53,334 people in England and Wales and 5,541 in Scotland, published on Monday, had the Conservatives likely to win Clacton but that was before Mr Farage made his dramatic announcement to return to frontline politics.

Politics

Angela Rayner to announce renters’ protections at opening of Labour Party conference

Published

1 hour ago

September 22, 2024

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Angela Rayner to announce renters' protections at opening of Labour Party conference

Angela Rayner will set out measures to protect renters from fire safety defects, damp and mould in her speech at the Labour Party conference.

The deputy prime minister, who is also the housing secretary, will commit to “building homes fit for the future” when she opens the party’s first annual gathering since winning the general election.

The package will include bringing forward a Remediation Acceleration Plan this autumn to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding on high-rise buildings.

Deadly cladding remains on more than half of all residential blocks of flats identified as at risk since the Grenfell fire in 2017.

The issue has come back into the spotlight following the conclusion of the inquiry into the tragedy, which found that “systematic dishonesty” contributed to the blaze that killed 72 people.

The announcement of the acceleration plan was thin on detail, but the government said it would go “further and faster to fix unsafe cladding and make existing homes safe”.

Other measures Ms Rayner will announce on Sunday include consulting on a new “decent homes standard” for the social and private rented sectors, and a new law to make landlords respond to complaints about disrepair within legally binding timescales.

These have already been announced as part of Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill, which builds on long-awaited legislation that was promised by the Tories but ultimately shelved ahead of the general election.

The law regarding repairs will be named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died as a direct result of exposure to mould in the social home his family rented in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

The Conservatives first proposed Awaab’s Law to cover the social rented sector, but Labour will extend it to cover the private sector in a move they say will help tenants in 746,000 homes with reported serious hazards secure faster repairs.

Commenting ahead of her speech, Ms Rayner, who has also pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years, said: “Just because Britain isn’t working at the moment, it doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed.

“We will deliver for working people and, in doing so, show that politics can change lives.

“This Labour government is taking a wave of bold action to not only build the housing our country needs and boost social and affordable housing, but to ensure all homes are decent, safe, and warm.”

The speech comes as a donations row threatens to overshadow the optimistic mood of the party’s first conference while in government for 15 years.

The prime minister has come under scrutiny over the past week for the more than £100,000 worth of gifts he has accepted, including tickets to football matches, concerts and luxury clothes.

Following days of press coverage on the issue, it emerged on Friday that Sir Keir and his most senior ministers – Ms Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves – will no longer accept donations to pay for clothes.

On Saturday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News that there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by her colleagues but “we don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes”.

She defended the prime minister’s actions as being within the rules, saying that the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things “so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind”.

She added: “We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

Politics

IMF staff propose REDI framework to catalyze CBDC adoption

Published

2 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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IMF staff propose REDI framework to catalyze CBDC adoption

IMF staff members introduced a high-level four stage framework, emphasizing regulation, education, design, and incentives to enhance CBDC adoption.

Politics

Education secretary defends £14k donation as ‘declared properly and thoroughly’

Published

2 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Education secretary defends £14k donation as 'declared properly and thoroughly'

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has defended receiving a donation of £14,000 from a Labour peer embroiled in a freebies row, saying it was “declared properly and thoroughly”.

An article in the Mail on Sunday claimed the minister had used some of the money from Lord Waheed Alli to pay for her 40th birthday party.

But speaking to Sky News from the Labour Party conference, Ms Phillipson insisted the donation paid for two events in a “professional… work context”, with attendees including representatives from the education sector, trade unions and political journalists.

Politics live: Labour wants to ‘move on’ from donations row, says minister

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire this week for accepting more than £100,000 worth of gifts since becoming party leader in 2019, including tickets to football matches, concerts, and luxury clothes for him and his wife – the latter of which was covered by Lord Alli.

It also emerged Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have received donations used for purchasing clothes by the long-standing Labour peer.

All three, who declared the donations on their register of interests, have now vowed to no longer accept funds in the future to pay for clothing.

Asked by Sky News’ Trevor Phillips whether they would now hand the money back, Ms Phillipson said: “Well, if they’ve declared it in line with the rules and they’ve followed [the rules], as very clearly they have, then I see no reason to do so.”

She added: “Look, the reason that we can have this conversation is because colleagues have followed the rules. I’ve followed the rules. I’ve set out in the register of interests, what donations were for who they were from, and that’s there for the public to see.”

The minister said it was “frustrating” to have to discuss the row as Labour’s conference gets into full swing on Sunday, rather than “the wider agenda”, adding: “Of course, this is a distraction. I’d much rather be talking to you about bigger issues.

“But you know, I’m happy to set out our position very clearly.”

Pushed to explain her own donations from Lord Alli – a television executive who has donated to Labour over the past 20 years – the education secretary said: “It was used to fund two events, all of which was declared properly and thoroughly. That’s why that information is in the public domain.

“The first event was ahead of my birthday, so I was turning 40. I thought it was a good opportunity to get people together in a professional context, so it was journalists, trade unionists, education people, MPs and shadow cabinet.

“The second event was an event that I held also again for lobby journalists, for people in the education world, as part of a reception. It was in a work context.”

She added that she celebrated her “actual 40th birthday” with her family,” saying: “We went for a pizza. I celebrated with my kids.”

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