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British public now see Reform as main opposition over Tories, finds Ipsos poll
Sarah Pochin, the newly elected MP for Runcorn and Helsby, joins her fellow Reform UK MPs outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, before her swearing in as an MP, May 6, 2025

REFORM is widely seen as the main opposition party over the Conservatives, according to a public poll.

Britons are now slightly more likely to consider Reform UK (37 per cent) as the main opposition party, ahead of the Conservatives (33 per cent), the Ipsos survey said.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is also now considered more likely to become prime minister (39 per cent) than Kemi Badenoch (25 per cent).

This represents a 12 per cent increase for Mr Farage from five months ago.

Half of Britons also believe that Sir Keir Starmer is doing a bad job as PM and 57 per cent say they are disappointed in Labour so far.

A large proportion of the public are not confident that any of the main political parties have a good plan for changing Britain, the research found.

But they are slightly more likely to be confident in Reform UK (37 per cent) than Labour (32 per cent).

Just a quarter (24 per cent) of Britons are confident that the Conservatives have a good plan for changing Britain, the lowest of any party polled.

Reform UK is also ahead of Labour when Britons were asked about their confidence in their ability to run the country (36 per cent Reform UK, 33 per cent Labour) and local councils (36 per cent Reform UK, 34 per cent Labour).

Ipsos chief executive Kelly Beaver said: “For the British public, Nigel Farage is seen as the main leader of the opposition now.

“For someone who leads a party of five MPs, and rejoined British politics 12 months ago, that is pretty remarkable.”

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