LONDON — Britain’s ruling Labour Party has erased a significant polling deficit against Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, with three separate surveys showing a notable surge in support following Andy Burnham’s first week as prime minister.
Farage’s anti-immigrant Reform party had topped nearly every opinion poll for over a year and racked up hundreds of seats in local and regional elections back in May. That string of losses pushed Labour to push out the unpopular former leader and hand the reins to Burnham, a more charismatic ex-mayor, who was installed as prime minister on July 20.
In his opening week on the job, Burnham focused on giving voters what he called “breathing space” from the rising cost of living — scrapping a tax on energy bills, placing a cap on bus fares, and reducing taxes on pubs and bars.
A survey from Survation placed Labour at 26% following Burnham’s first week in office, putting the party ahead of Reform, which came in at 24%. Just before the previous leader announced his resignation in June, Labour had been sitting at only 19%, with Reform at 27%.
Survation’s Chief Executive Damian Lyons Lowe noted that the result was “the highest Survation has had Labour since 3 June 2025, and the first Labour polling lead since 3 May 2025.”
Other polling firms painted a similar picture. On Monday, More In Common showed Labour at 28%, ahead of Reform’s 24%. Meanwhile, YouGov had the two parties tied at 22%, with Labour climbing 6 points since May and Reform hitting its lowest level of support since March 2025.
YouGov also reported that more people in Britain viewed Burnham as a more capable prime minister than Farage or any other major party leader.
While Labour rides the wave of positive polling, Reform has come under scrutiny over whether donations from wealthy supporters were properly reported — something Farage has furiously dismissed as an effort by the establishment to undermine him.
When asked about the polling uptick on Monday, Burnham said he would not get “carried away” but expressed satisfaction at having “made a start where hopefully I’ve connected with people.”
