Reform overtake Tories for first time

NIGEL Farage's party were ahead of the Conservatives, a poll last night revealed.

- Katie Harris

A YouGov survey found Reform has increased support by two points to 19% with the Tories on 18%. Conservative strategists will be particularly concerned because it was carried out after Rishi Sunak launched his party's manifesto on Tuesday.

It is the first time a poll has shown Reform ahead of the Tories

Nigel Farage boldly claimed Reform UK was now the "challengers to Labour".

Anthony Wells, head of European political and social research at YouGov, said: "Obviously all polls have a margin of error, so we can't conclude for certain that more voters now back Nigel Farage's party over the Conservatives.

"But what it does make clear is that at the very least the Conservatives and Reform are at a similar level of support to each other. That in itself is remarkable given how close we are to an election when we might otherwise have expected smaller parties' votes to be squeezed."

Overall Labour retained a 19-point lead over the Conservatives, while the Liberal Democrats were down one point at 14%.