Ditching Sir Keir Starmer as leader will not save Labour from the surge in support for Reform UK, it has been warned.Latest poll projections show Nigel Farage’s party on course to be the biggest in the next parliament. Pressure has also soared on Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, with a YouGov analysis signalling the Conservatives would be pushed into fourth place if an election were held now.
Labour Cabinet ministers including Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Defence Secretary John Healey, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds would lose their seats to Reform. Other leading Labour figures who would fall include Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.
Overall, Reform would win 271 seats with Labour taking 178, the Liberal Democrats 81, Conservatives 46, the SNP 38, and the Greens and Plaid Cymru each winning seven.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice said: “These results show that no one is safe from the Reform UK tidal wave. We are taking seats across the country and across the political spectrum because voters are done with the old two-party system that has betrayed them for far too long.”
Simon Danczuk, a former Labour MP who stood for Reform in last year’s Rochdale by-election, predicted that the Prime Minister would be removed by his own party.
He said: “It’s not surprising Labour has become so unpopular in less than a year since winning the General Election. It all started badly with Starmer’s hypocrisy over taking freebies.
“Then he’s failed to tackle illegal immigration, the economy has got worse, he’s mishandled the rape gang scandal, and there was the winter fuel cut for older people. Starmer is completely out of touch with working people; they have simply stopped listening to him.
“Backbench Labour MPs are furious with Starmer’s hopeless leadership. I suspect they will get rid of him in the next 12 to 18 months, but it won’t do them any good.”
A Labour MP whose seat is forecast to go to Reform hit back at Nigel Farage’s party, saying: “They have no policies but speak to the mistrust people have with politicians. We must improve our narrative to regain the trust.
“Reform are an experiment the county neither needs nor can afford – both morally and financially.”
Another Labour MP who wished to remain anonymous told the Express the priority must be to show how “lightweight the Reform Party ideas really are”.
The MP said: “Whilst it’s probably three years until the next general election, Labour is rightly taking the Reform threat seriously. We must earn people’s trust by showing the real difference our policies can make to their lives.”
A Labour insider said: “Labour best tackles Reform by delivering better public services in left behind areas. It’s really that simple.”