Alarm bells for the Tories as a THIRD of those who backed party in last year’s general election disaster now say they could vote for Nigel Farage’s Reform-Nhy
The Conservatives have been handed a blow by a new poll that shows a third of the party’s remaining voters are considering defecting to Reform at the next election.
The Tories were hammered at the General Election, retaining just 121 seats as Labour swept to power.
But polling by YouGov today suggests that 33 per cent of those who stuck by the party could fall in behind Nigel Farage’s party next time.
That compares to just nine per cent of Labour voters and eight per cent of Lib Dems who have switched.
It comes as new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch struggles to build support for the party despite Labour’s difficult first six months in power.
Most polls have Sir Keir Starmer‘s party, the Tories and Reform in a three-way fight to be the most popular party.
YouGov has Reform on 24 per cent in its most recent poll.
The most popular reason for backing was the dissatisfaction with the main parties, as well as its hardline approach to immigration.
The Tories were hammered at the General Election , retaining just 121 seats as Labour swept to power. But polling by YouGov today suggests that 33 per cent of those who stuck by the party could fall in behind Nigel Farage’s party next time.
Voters of the two parties are also split on the idea of a merger, as put forward by some former senior Tories like Suella Braverman.
Just 20 per cent back a merger, with 52 per cent opposed – though Tory voters are more open than Reform.
Kemi Badenoch‘s support among Conservative Party members has tumbled after a month of flat poll ratings and attacks from Reform.
The Tory leader has fallen from first to seventh in the latest Conservative Home survey of the party grassroots, a poll she had hitherto topped every month since July’s election.
Before Christmas her net satisfaction rate surged to +70. But it has more than halved in the new year as she struggles for relevance with Nigel Farage‘s party pulling neck-and-neck.
She had made headlines with a public spat with Mr Farage over the size of Reform’s membership, and also struggled to maintain the fallout after she was accused of dropping support for the pensions triple lock.
Mel Stride, her shadow chancellor, now tops the poll, with Robert Jenrick, her leadership rival last year, in second.
Mr Stride, who also stood for the leadership last year, and Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, are the only two members of the shadow Cabinet to gain popularity with the grassroots this month.
In a speech last week Ms Badenoch acknowledged that her party had made mistakes in recent years over initiating Brexit under the leadership of Boris Johnson and Theresa May, as well as on immigration.
She also drew criticism after suggesting she would look at means testing when asked about the future of the triple lock, which is aimed at preventing the state pension’s worth from being eaten away by inflation and other cost pressures.
She said that the Conservative policy on the issue ‘has not changed’ but that ‘people should ask questions, we will look at it’.
The mechanism ensures payouts rise each year in line with inflation, earnings or by 2.5 per cent – whichever is higher.
It is aimed at preventing the value of pensions being whittled away by cost of living pressures.
At the end of December Reform today legal action after Ms Badenoch accused the party of ‘fakery’ over its membership numbers.
A furious row has erupted after an online counter indicated Reform had more than 141,000 members.
This is higher than the 131,680 Tory members who were eligible to vote in the Conservative leadership election, which saw Mrs Badenoch replace Rishi Sunak.
