Fresh Humiliation For Starmer As Labour Slips Behind Tories And Reform In New Poll
Keir Starmer was hit with more bad news this morning after a new opinion poll put Labour in third place behind both the Tories and Reform UK.
According to a YouGov survey for Sky and The Times, Reform held onto its lead and even gained one percentage point in the last week, putting it on 26%.
While support for the Conservatives remained steady on 19%, Labour lost three percentage points, meaning it is now on 17%.
That’s the first time the governing party has slipped behind the official opposition in the polls since the general election 18 months ago, when Labour enjoyed a landslide victory.
It’s also the lowest score Labour has secured since the election, matching their polling numbers from October – only this time, the Tories are evidently outshining them.
The Liberal Democrats are also just one point behind Labour on 16%, while the Greens sit on 15%.
However, this poll does put four of the five main parties all within four points of each other.
It’s also worth noting that, unless the government calls a snap election, voters will not get an opportunity to change Westminster’s MPs until 2029.
YouGov / Sky / Times voting intention
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) January 6, 2026
RefUK 26%(+1),
CON 19%(nc),
LAB 17%(-3),
LDEM 16%(+1),
GRN 15%(nc)
Note that Labour on 17% matches their lowest (previously reached in October), but this is the first time since the election we've had them behind the Tories (now that it…
Even so, the poll comes as Labour backbenchers stew over Starmer’s future.
Many within the parliamentary party have been particularly unimpressed with the way Starmer has refused to call out the US for its military strikes in Venezuela and its capture of Nicolas Maduro.
Labour MP Jon Trickett told Times Radio: “I don’t know but I sometime ago came to the view that Keir Starmer doesn’t represent the Labour values that I believe in.
“And I feel that more and more people are coming to that view, but whether a foreign adventure by Trump would change the logistics of all that I wouldn’t like to say.”
He added: “I think the British people don’t want to be a poodle for any government, even Washington, which have been allies as we know for many many years – and especially not for the current president who appears to be on a track which no other president or prime minister in Britain would ever have followed.”