2019 Tory voters more likely to switch to Reform UK than Labour, YouGov poll finds
More voters who backed the Conservatives in 2019 would now switch to Reform UK over Labour, a YouGov poll for Sky News has found.
Pollsters surveyed 5,621 voters and found 11 per cent say they would now vote for Labour, while 12 per cent say they would back Reform UK, which is to the right of the Tories.
The YouGov poll also reported that 40 per cent of 2019 Tory backers would stick with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s party, while 23 per cent don’t know and seven per cent would not vote.
Patrick English, from YouGov, told Sky News: “When you really drill down… [into] what they think about issues, there do seem to be some encouraging numbers for the Conservatives.
“They rate Rishi Sunak higher than they rate Keir Starmer. They rate the Conservative Party higher than they do the Labour Party.”
Meanwhile a separate piece of YouGov research found most Reform voters wouldn’t opt to back the Conservatives – even if a Reform candidate wasn’t standing in their constituency.
Just 31 per cent said the Tories would win their vote in such a situation, while 20 per cent said some other party and 27 per cent said they would not vote.
But Luke Tryl, UK director of More in Common, said the research showed three key things.
He posted on X, formerly Twitter: “The Tories are in trouble because they are bleeding votes in many directions.
“The Tories can’t retain a majority without getting back some direct Conservative to Labour switchers.
“A Labour majority needs enough Tory 2019 voters who are now ‘don’t know’ switching or staying at home.”
The Labour and Conservative parties declined to comment.
A spokesman for ReformUK said: “We feel this is hardly a surprise – in many ways a lot of the people who voted for Boris in 2019, the Brexit Party was the entry drug… they are not going to go back to Labour.
“There is a very strong likelihood that if we are up to it and we are effective we will be digging into that chunk quite strongly.”