Nearly a THIRD of voters who backed Tories in 2019 now support Reform

Nearly a third of voters who backed the Tories in 2019 now support Reform, data suggests.

According to a scathing YouGov poll, 32 per cent of those who backed Boris Johnson in the last election intend to vote for Nigel Farage's party come July 4.

This comes after Reform last night overtook the Conservatives in the polls for the first time.

Under current projections, Mr Farage's outfit is set to get 19 per cent of the public vote. For comparison, the Tories are tracking at around 17 per cent and Labour 37 per cent.

Almost one in three people who voted for Boris Johnson in 2019 have switched support to Nigel Farage's Reform Party, figures have shown

Last week Mr Farage declared that Reform were now the 'opposition to Labour'.

He wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: 'This is the inflection point. The only wasted vote now is a Conservative vote, we are the challengers to Labour and we are on our way.'

The polling shows that there has been a Farage-factor to Reform UK's surge in support.

The week before he made his comeback to frontline politics the party was supported by 28 per cent of Conservative 2019 voters, enjoying a four point rise since the veteran Brexiteer announced he would lead the party and stand in the upcoming election.

The party have been polling well with disillusioned Tories since the end of November 2023, not dipping below 20 per cent since.

Voters who backed the Conservative party in 2019 largely remained loyal during the partygate allegations, with over 70 per cent still supporting the party.

The drop came during Liz Truss's short tenure as PM, with just over half of 2019 Tories saying they would back them next time around at the end of September 2022.

At that time, though, it was Labour who were taking advantage.

Support for the Conservative Party has fallen with latest opinion polls suggesting Rishi Sunak's Tories are in third place behind Mr Farage's party

One in five Brexit supporters have suggested they will back Sir Keir Starmer in the election

The 2019 election was largely fought over delivering on leaving the EU with Mr Johnson promising to 'Get Brexit Done.'

Not all leave voters are planning to back Mr Farage at the ballot box in July, with one in five Brexiteers saying they will vote for Sir Keir.

Reform is currently polling strongest among men, over-65s and people in the Midlands.

This isn't the first time Reform has polled a third of former Tory voters.

At the beginning of April this year there were reports of record numbers of small boat crossings for the first three months of the year, with over 5,000 arriving by the end of March.

Read more