Each faces the challenge of uniting the Right and beating Andy Burnham. Britons believe they know what Nigel Farage stands but Kemi Badenoch is catching up.
Can Kemi Badenoch win over Right-leaning voters who like Nigel Farage? (Image: -)
Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch are locked in a dead heat as they battle to persuade voters to put their parties into government at the next election. When pollsters Ipsos asked people if they would be willing to consider voting for Reform UK or the Conservatives at the next election the parties scored the same result. Thirty percent of the electorate saying they would be very or fairly likely to think about supporting them. Reform and the Tories scored better than the Liberal Democrats (24%), the Greens (23%) and Restore Britain (19%) but were behind the Labour party (39%).
The polling highlights the battle Mr Farage and Mrs Badenoch face as they fight for the support of Britain’s centre-Right vote. Mr Farage scored ahead of Mrs Badenoch when people were asked if it was clear what he stands for. Nearly two-thirds (64%) were sure what he stood for. But Mrs Badenoch is catching up. The October polling found that for the first time more than half of people (54%) think they know what she stands for.
The Tory leader also had better favourability ratings than her Reform rival, though she remains in negative territory with a score of -12. Mr Farage’s net favourability score was -31, far behind Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s rating of +8. Green leader Zack Polanski is a worse position on -36 as he attempts to put his failed attempt to win Sir Keir Starmer’s old seat in this month’s by-election behind him.
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Andy Burnham has transformed Labour’s fortunes but an election win is far from certain (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Voters are quickly forming an impression of Mr Burnham. In late June, just 37% said it was clear what he stood for but this has soared to 57%.
The polling shows that Mr Farage and Mrs Badenoch must quickly adapt to counter the popularity of the new Prime Minister. When people were asked whether they would prefer a Labour party led by Mr Burnham or the Tories’ under Mrs Badenoch to win the next election, Labour had a 13 point lead. And when asked to choose between Labour and Mr Farage’s Reform, Mr Burnham’s party’s lead increased to 23 points.
However, the polling suggests that while the Tories have a long way to go before they are in a position to win a general election, the party attracts less hostility from the wider public than Reform. When people were asked to choose between Mrs Badenoch’s Conservatives and Mr Farage’s Reform forming the next Government, the Tories had a 22 point lead. When asked to identify the issues which will influence how they will vote at the next election, healthcare and the cost of living topped the poll, each on 61%, followed by immigration on 52%.
Sky News viewers fume ‘it should be illegal’ in furious Labour bias row
The complaints followed Yvette Cooper’s appearance on the programme.
Yvette Cooper was interviewed by Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika on Sky News (Image: Sky News)
Sky News was flooded with complaints after Health Secretary Yvette Cooper appeared on the programme on Sunday (October 18). Cooper, who is married to Good Morning Britain presenter Ed Balls, discussed various issues as she was interviewed by Ayesha Hazarika. Hazarika questioned the Labour politician about the current investigation into whether the NHS records of a man killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park last week were accessed inappropriately. They also spoke about the war in Ukraine, with the politician revealing that the government has taken a “different view” to the crisis than that of US President Donald Trump.
But it was the Sky News Sunday Morning presenter that sparked outrage, as Hazarika is a Labour peer.
One argued that it should be “illegal” for someone working for a political party to be interviewed by another who openly supports that party.
Others believe that politicians should not be permitted to pursue careers in broadcast journalism, as it undermines impartiality.
Additional viewers were confused by Cooper addressing Hazarika as a “journalist”.
“This is mental. It is completely and utterly mental. This should literally be illegal. It is not unreasonable to ban politicians from being broadcast journalists FFS,” one fumed on X.
The bias accusations continued, as another said: “It’s a joke. Nobody from either House should be presenting news/politics on any channel, go do your own podcast if you must.”
A third added: “She’s a Labour peer and should not be interviewing her!! Typical mainstream drivel.”
A fourth weighed in: “Ayesha is a journalist? Which paper or news outlet did she do her apprenticeship or grad scheme on? Where did she do her NCTJ, her undergrad or post grad degree or qualification? I know she has a law degree & did a comedy course but the journalism training must have passed me by.”
Someone else claimed: “If this was a Tory MP being interviewed by a Tory peer on GB News, there would be outrage of impartiality from everyone.”
During the interview, Cooper said people “need to be sacked” if patient records were accessed wrongly. William Chapman was mauled to death last week after he jumped into a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Shortly after, Yorkshire Ambulance Service Trust said there may have been two separate incidents involving two members of staff who accessed, or attempted to access, medical information “without a legitimate reason to do so” following the incident.
Cooper said: “I take this extremely seriously. I know there’s a specific investigation going into that case, but we just need to be absolutely clear.
“No member of NHS staff should be accessing records that they do not need to see for medical care and reasons, simply for something to do with voyeurism or what is in the news, or any of that kind of reason.”
She added: “We have to have firm action against these people. Should be if there are breaches, then people actually need to be sacked.”