Reform UK has grown in support to within one percentage point of Labour according to a new poll for Sky News by YouGov which suggests Britain has entered a new era of three-way party politics.

Sir Keir Starmer looks set to spend the parliament locked in a fight with two right-wing parties after Labour support dropped sharply in the first YouGov poll since the general election.

The poll shows the Tories have now been pushed into third place – two months after Kemi Badenoch was elected leader.

The data collected over the weekend puts Labour on 26%, Reform UK on 25%, Conservatives on 22%, Liberal Democrats on 14% and Greens on 8%.

This is a huge switch from the general election, when Labour was on 35%, Conservatives on 24%, Reform UK on 15%, Lib Dem on 13% and Greens on 7%.

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This is the first of YouGov’s weekly voting intention polls for Sky News, shared with The Times.

It reflects a drop in satisfaction with the government, a rise in support for Reform UK, and shows how the Labour vote has split in all directions since the election.

Labour has retained 54% of their vote at the general election – 7% have gone to the Lib Dems, 6% to the Green Party, 5% to Reform UK, 4% to the Tories – while 23% of those polled did not say, did not know or would not vote.

Reform UK’s vote has grown since the general election at the expense of all other parties, with 16% of voters who backed the Tories at the ballot last year now saying they’d support Reform.

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The judgement on Sir Keir’s first six months in office is damning, however.

Some 10% say the government has been successful while 60% say unsuccessful.

Older voters have turned away from Labour. Just 14% of over 65s would now vote Labour, down from 22% around the time of the election.

However, there are signs the Tory party remains a toxic brand. Reform UK are the least unpopular party, with a net favourability rating of -32, Labour a touch worse on -34 and the Tories down on -45.

YouGov interviewed 2,279 voters in Great Britain on Sunday 12 January and Monday 13 January.

The Labour MP for Rotherham has called for a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal, adding more pressure on Sir Keir Starmer.

Sarah Champion said child sexual abuse was “endemic” in Britain and “needs to be recognised as a national priority”.

She is the latest Labour politician to call for a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation (CSE) after Dan Carden, the Labour MP for Liverpool Walton, became the first Labour MP to back calls for a national inquiry at the weekend.

Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, has also said he would not “stand against” a further review while Paul Waugh, the Labour MP for Rochdale, backed a further inquiry on the condition it had the support of victims and survivors.

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Ms Champion, who resigned from Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow frontbench in 2017 after she said Britain had a “problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls”, issued a five-point plan for tackling CSE on X – the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, who has increasingly taken an interest in the issue.

Her intervention will add more pressure on the prime minister, who has so far resisted the Conservatives’ calls for a national inquiry into “rape gangs”, arguing that it would delay implementing measures that would help victims.

Sir Keir, the former director of public prosecutions for England and Wales, pointed to the fact that there had already been the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse by Professor Alexis Jay – but critics have argued that it was not comprehensive enough.

During Prime Minister’s Questions last week, Sir Keir said a new inquiry would delay implementing Prof Jay’s recommendations “until 2031”.

He accused the Conservatives of failing to implement any of the 2022 recommendations, adding: “They’ve been tweeting and talking. We’ve been acting.”

Last week the government announced it would implement one of Prof Jay’s recommendations by making it mandatory for professionals who work with children to report claims of sexual abuse – or face criminal sanctions.

MPs also last week voted against a Tory bid to launch a new national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal by 364 to 111, a majority of 253.

However, even if the Commons had supported the measure, it wouldn’t have actually forced the government to open the desired inquiry due to parliamentary procedure.

Instead, it would have killed the government’s legislation, the aim of which is to reform things such as the children’s care system and raise educational standards in schools.

Ms Champion, who previously indicated she would not support a further inquiry, proposed a national “Telford-style” inquiry that was “nationally resourced” and “victim-centred”.

She said local inquiries did not have the power to compel witnesses and would fail to satisfy the public’s concern of cover-ups.

Telford was one of a number of towns and cities where young girls were targeted and abused by men largely of Pakistani heritage more than a decade ago. Other areas that were affected include Oldham, Rochdale, Newcastle and Bristol.

Ms Champion, who has campaigned on the issue of CSE for years, wrote on X: “Child sexual abuse is endemic in the UK and needs to be recognised as a national priority,” she said.

“It is clear that the public distrusts governments and authorities when it comes to preventing and prosecuting child abuse, especially child sexual exploitation.”

She added: “Having worked widely with victims and survivors, and frontline professionals, I have long believed that we need to fully understand the nature of this crime and the failures in the response of public bodies if we are to truly protect children.

“It is clear that nothing less than a national inquiry into the failings of those in authority to both prevent, and be accountable for their failings, in relation to grooming gangs will restore the faith in our safeguarding systems.”

In her list of recommendations, Ms Champion also included a “national audit” to see if grooming gangs were still operating or cases had been missed.

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She also said there needed to be greater work to understand the motivations of grooming gang members.

Instead, she said triggers for such inquiries in local areas could be local councils or police referring themselves or an independent panel raising concerns.

Victim or survivor reports could also trigger an inquiry under the model, Ms Champion said.

Asked whether Ms Champion’s views on the matter carry some weight given her experience, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “Absolutely. There will be a range of views.

“We’ve heard opposing views to that from others, including victims and survivors’ groups as well. So we will be guided and led by the victims and survivors on this.”

Campaigners are calling on the government to allow rents to be capped within tenancies as a key bill returns to the Commons.

More than 30 MPs have backed an amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill which, if passed, would restrict how much landlords can raise rents on sitting tenants by limiting percentage increases to inflation or average wage growth – whichever is lowest.

The bill, which was first proposed by the Conservatives, promises to abolish Section 21 “no-fault evictions”, the legal mechanism that allows landlords to evict tenants without providing a reason.

Section 21 notices have been identified as a key driver of homelessness by housing charities including Shelter, which says about 500 renters receive a no-fault eviction every day.

However, campaigners have expressed concern that if Section 21 notices are banned, landlords will use other means to evict tenants, including by pricing out tenants with rent hikes.

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The most recent statistics by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that English renters paid an average of £1,362 last month, while rent prices in England increased by nearly 10% in the past year.

UK rent rises were not far behind, growing 9.1% across the year, just below the record-high annual rise of 9.2% in March.

Comparisons have been drawn with other countries in Europe, including the Netherlands, where a rent increase limit of inflation or wage growth plus 1% is in place.

Although there is a measure in the bill that would ban rent increases from being written into contracts to prevent mid-tenancy hikes, critics have pointed out that landlords would still be able to raise rent once a year at the market rate.

Analysis of government figures by housing charity Shelter found England’s private renters paid an extra £473m every month on rent in 2024 – an average of £103 more per month than they were paying in 2023.

However, the government has ruled out rent controls, saying its plan to build 1.5 million more homes will bring prices down.

The amendment on restricting rent increases has been proposed by Labour MP Paula Barker, a former shadow housing minister who said the change would “help keep renters in their homes”.

It has the support of the RMT and Unison unions, as well as the Renters’ Reform Coalition, which includes major homelessness and housing charities such as Shelter and Crisis.

Ms Barker said the housing crisis needed “immediate action” and that her proposal would prevent landlords from using “unaffordable rent hikes as de facto no-fault evictions”.

“In the long term, building more social and affordable housing will help to address the emergency – but to help renters who are struggling right now, a measure to limit rent rises would stop landlords from using unaffordable rent hikes as de facto no-fault evictions,” she said.

“By preventing landlords from raising the rent for sitting tenants by more than inflation or wage growth, my amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill would help keep renters in their homes. Which is why I am urging my fellow MPs to support it.”

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Other MPs who support Ms Barker’s amendment include Green Party MP Carla Denyer, who has put forward a separate proposal that would set up an independent “living rent” body to establish rules about rent increases between tenancies by taking into account factors such as property type, condition, size and local incomes.

“It’s time to end the scandal of rip-off rents,” the Bristol Central MP said.

“Right now, renters are facing a wild west when it comes to renting a home – and a lack of protection has left them at the mercy of landlords who see tenants as cash cows, not people in need of a home.

“Across Europe, rent controls are a normal part of the private rented sector. The UK is lagging behind, with dire consequences not just for renters but for the economy as a whole.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Our Renters’ Rights Bill will strengthen tenants’ rights by banning section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and while we do not have plans to introduce rent controls, we are taking action to cap rent payable at the start of a tenancy to one month, end unfair bidding wars, and give tenants stronger powers to challenge excessive rent hikes.

“This is alongside boosting supply by building 1.5 million homes as part of our plan for change.”