Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has extended its lead over Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, despite Labour’s recent attempts to brand the populist movement as racist. The strategy appears to have backfired, with voters rejecting what they see as political smears and turning toward Farage’s message of national renewal.
A new Opinium poll of 2,050 UK adults conducted after Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool found Reform rising two points to 34 percent, while Labour fell another point to 21 percent — widening the gap between the two parties.
Starmer and senior Labour figures spent much of the conference attacking Reform, labeling its proposal to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants “racist.” Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy went even further, absurdly linking Farage to the “Hitler Youth” — a group that disbanded long before the Reform leader’s birth.
The attacks, however, seem to have alienated voters. The same poll found that half of respondents thought Labour had a poor conference, including 37 percent of Labour supporters. Only 23 percent viewed Starmer’s speech positively, compared to 34 percent who reacted negatively.
Labour also saw its public perception deteriorate across key metrics. The number of voters saying the party “shares my values” dropped five points to a net negative of 34 percent. Meanwhile, 65 percent said Labour is failing to rebuild trust in politics, 61 percent said it isn’t providing hope or optimism, and 59 percent said it lacks competent governance.
In a symbolic reversal, voters now see Nigel Farage as more optimistic about Britain’s future than Starmer, by a margin of 39 to 32 percent.
James Crouch, head of policy and public affairs at Opinium, summarized the result: “Labour must first address how they are perceived before challenging others. The public sees them as uninspiring and out of touch.”
Reform UK policy chief Zia Yusuf was more blunt: “Turns out calling Nigel Farage and all our voters names does not work.”
