A bombshell poll has predicted seven cabinet ministers could lose their seats to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in a new general election – and the government is hyper-aware of the “serious threat” the party poses, one insider says.
The long-term Labour councillor for Thurrock in Essex who didn’t want to be named told the i newspaper: “We’re aware that Reform presents a serious threat … I expect the party will be putting in a lot of effort, diverting members from all around the regions to help in the effort to keep Reform from winning.”
The super-poll, conducted by the thinktank More in Common, suggested that Brits heading to the polls five months after the general election would hand Labour 200 less seats than they did in July.
Labour would win a total of 228 seats, the pollster projected, with the Conservatives taking 222, the Liberal Democrats 58 and Reform 72 – a huge rise on Farage’s party’s five-seat win in the summer.
The next general election won’t be held until 2029, but a major challenge for Keir Starmer’s government could come in the local elections of May 2025, when all seats on all 21 country councils and 10 unitary authorities in England will be up for grabs.
Reform UK is hoping to capitalise on its rapidly growing popularity, however, and volley as many of its 1,000 approved candidates into council seats around the country as possible next spring.
Thurrock, which has a Labour-controlled council but is partly overseen by new Reform MP James McMurdock, is just area worried at the prospect of a Reform takeover.
Echoing Elon Musk’s pledge to streamline efficiency in the US government, Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice told the i that the party’s campaign in Thurrock would include cutting “a whole bunch of ridiculous diversity, equality and inclusion jobs” and ending “wokeness”.
“People know that our policies are what’s going to turn the country around, turn the economy around,” he added.
“We’re not confident about anything. We are ambitious that we’ll put in an excellent performance.”
Reform’s paid-up membership numbers surged past 152,000 on Sunday, taking it beyond the last-known number of Conservative members, which totalled 131,680 in November.
It comes after Farage confirmed that Tesla founder and billionaire Elon Musk would hand a “reasonable-sized donation” to the party, after he backed Donald Trump’s successful bid for the White House this year.
The Reform leader and MP for Clacton told The Telegraph that the donation would be “legal [and] above board” and described Musk as a “bloody hero”.
