Britain’s Populist Right-Wing Reform UK Party Surges in Popularity

The reemergence of staunch conservative Nigel Farage has given Britain’s populist right-wing Reform UK party a boost, with the latest poll showing it closing in on the ruling Conservatives ahead of the country’s impending general election.

According to the most recent YouGov survey of the election campaign for Sky News, Reform is now only two points behind the Conservatives.

According to online polling, Labour is likely to win 40% of the vote, followed by the Conservatives at 19% and the Reform Party at 17%.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Tory party was already largely projected to lose next month’s election to the opposition Labour Party, ending its long and turbulent 14-year reign.

Nigel Farage’s return

Nigel Farage’s sudden return as Reform leader on Monday dealt a fatal blow to the Tory party, threatening to grab a sizable share of right-wing votes.

The last-minute change would leave the Conservatives with even fewer seats than previously projected in the House of Commons, potentially sparking a reckoning within the weakened party. Some observers believe it would push the party even further to the right, maybe with Farage at the head.

Farage, for his part, has not ruled out ultimately joining a “reset and realign[ed]” Conservative Party, stating last year, “never say never.”

Euroskeptic Farage, who led the Leave campaign in the United Kingdom’s 2016 EU referendum, has announced his candidacy for a parliamentary seat in Clacton-on-Sea, a coastal town in eastern England with strong Brexit support. A previous YouGov poll showed the Conservatives winning that seat.

It is the politician-turned-media personality’s seventh attempt to be a member of Parliament, having never previously succeeded.

A separate Ipsos survey issued Thursday predicted that Reform would receive only 9% of the vote, compared to Labour’s 43% and the Conservatives’ 23%. The survey includes attitudes questioned as of Tuesday, one day after Farage’s return.

Voters rethinking Reform UK party

Just over half of participants (53%) in the poll claimed they had already chosen how they would vote on July 4, with others indicating they would change their minds.

Farage is bitterly opposed to the Conservatives. In the 2019 election, his then-Brexit Party promised not to run candidates in hundreds of seats to ensure a Conservative victory. He has since accused the party of abandoning the political right, declaring Monday that it was time for a “revolt.”

“What I’m really calling for—or intend to lead—is a political revolt,” he said at a so-called emergency news conference in London.

The announcement undermines Sunak’s previous efforts to capture right-wing support by strengthening the Conservatives’ stance on migration and the United Kingdom’s membership in the European Convention on Human Rights. Recent pronouncements regarding the resumption of obligatory national service, tax breaks for elderly, and new gender definitions were also interpreted as an attempt to win potential Reform supporters.

Reform The UK Party is a political group in the United Kingdom that seeks to improve the country’s governance. Their primary focus is on improving the political system to make it more open and accountable. They also want to lower taxes and minimize government waste.

One of their major concerns is Brexit, and they believe the UK should have complete sovereignty over its laws, borders, and trade without intervention from the European Union. They also push for improved public services, such as the NHS, but believe these services should be more efficient.

They say that too much money is squandered on bureaucracy while insufficient funds are allocated to frontline services. Reform UK believes that smaller government results in a better economy and greater freedom for individuals and businesses.

They commit to work for policies that they feel will result in a more equitable, affluent society for all.

Source: CNBC