The Nigel Farage-founded populist Reform UK party has continued its rise in the polls, climbing to a record level of support as Rishi Sunak’s Tories continue to haemorrhage support over post-Brexit failures.
A survey conducted by Redfield and Wilton Strategies found that the insurgent Reform party has support from 15 per cent of the British public, representing an increase of one point over the previous week and marking its highest-ever polling result from the firm.
Meanwhile, the supposed ‘Conservative’ Party of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak slipped to its lowest level recorded by Redfield and Wilton, sliding to 21 percentage points in the polls, meaning that Reform is now just six points behind Tories, The Telegraph reported.
A separate survey conducted by Opinion for the left-wing Guardian’s sister paper The Observer found that just 41 per cent of those who voted for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives in the 2019 general election plan to vote for Sunak’s Tories in the next general election.
Sunak, who was installed against the wishes of the Conservative Party membership which backed Liz Truss over him in the leadership contest to replace Johnson in 2022, has been apparently unable to connect with voters, many of whom have been disillusioned with the globalist governance imposed by Westminster despite the promises of Brexit to bring the country back to small-c conservative Thatcherite-style rule after decades of globalism enforced from Brussels.
Sunak and his neo-liberal cabinet have come under heavy criticism for instituting the highest tax burden on the public since the Second World War in order to supposedly pay down the debt incurred during the Conservative government’s lockdown policies during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.
However, failure to “take back control” and reduce migration — both legal and illegal — has been a key factor in the declining support for the Conservatives and driver of the rise of Reform UK, with supporters of all major British political parties in favour of cutting immigration.
Rather than following through on longstanding promises to reduce immigration to the “tens of thousands” — a pledge former Tory Chancellor George Osbourne admitted the party never had any intention of actually implementing — immigration has soared to record highs following Brexit, with net migration hitting a staggering 745,000 in 2022 and 672,000 in 2023.
Although many of the promises of mass migration advocates have failed to materialise, with the country falling into a recession at the same exact time with the largest number of foreigners coming into the country in its history, GDP-worshiping figures in Sunak’s cabinet, such as Treasury boss Jeremy Hunt continue to claim that more imported labour is critical for economic growth.
In contrast, Reform UK has said that if given power, it would “freeze non-essential immigration”, arguing that the country should only allow in people who bring needed skills such as doctors, nurses, and successful business people.
“The population explosion has led directly to the depression of local wages, the housing crisis and the NHS waiting list crisis. British culture, identity and values are under threat,” the party has said.
Amid its rise in the polls, there has been increased attacks on Reform UK in the legacy British media, with the Mail on Sunday publishing a series of supposedly offensive social media posts by Reform candidates. This followed a report from the radical left Hope Not Hate organisation on other parliamentary candidates for the party, who allegedly made “racist” remarks in the past. So far, Reform leader Richard Tice has suspended at least 12 candidates over their social media posts.
Tice told the BBC that his party “deliberately puts candidates out into the public domain early” so that they can be vetted by the public rather than spending party money on vetting every candidate.
“I’m not taking lessons from the Tory Party that’s got a bunch of sexual weirdos permeating, defending the indefensible which is inexcusable. We know the Labour party is still unfortunately riddled with antisemitism,” he said.
However, Tice has also faced critism from figures on the populist right in Britain for appearing to bend the knee to organisations like Hope Not Hate and the legacy media by removing the candidates.
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