Tactical Voting May Block Nigel Farage’s UK PM Bid

Tactical voting is set to block Nigel Farage’s path to 10 Downing Street at the next general election.

A new poll has found that voters are increasingly likely to support other parties to stop Reform UK winning.

Labour are set to be the main beneficiaries of this trend, boosting Andy Burnham’s chances of remaining prime minister.

The findings also provide further proof that Burnham has completely turned around Labour’s fortunes since he replaced Keir Starmer as PM in July.

The poll of more than 6,000 voters, which was conducted by YouGov, found that in a seat with only a Labour or Reform candidate, 41% would back Burnham’s party, with only 26% backing Farage’s.

That is a dramatic shift from last February, when 35% said they would vote Labour and 31% said they would back Reform.

In a seat with only a Tory and Reform candidate, 35% would now vote Conservative, compared to just 20% would vote for Reform.

The poll also found that around two-thirds of Lib Dem and Green voters said they would vote tactically for Labour to keep Reform out, as did 18% of Tories.

Around half of Labour and Lib Dem supporters would also vote Conservative to stop Reform, as did 26% of Greens.

YouGov said the study “shows that willingness to back Reform against Labour, the Tories or Lib Dems has declined markedly” in the past year.

“The change in prime minister appears to have heralded a greater willingness to vote for Labour in tactical voting scenarios among Green, Lib Dem and Conservative voters,” the pollster added.

Meanwhile, the poll also suggests that support for the Greens is also on the slide.

Support for Zack Polanski’s party fell in head-to-head contests with all of the other main parties.

The YouGov findings back up a separate study by the More in Common think-tank, which also showed Reform suffering due to tactical voting.

It found that left-wing voters are far more likely to vote tactically than those on the right.

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