Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party is experiencing a setback in British polls.
According to the latest numbers by YouGov, the right-wing party is at is lowest point since April 2025, dropping two points to 24 per cent.
This places Reform just four points ahead of the Conservatives, who rose one point to 20 per cent, while Labour gained two points to reach 19 per cent.
The Liberal Democrats held steady at 16 per cent and the Greens fell two points to 14 per cent.
The survey, conducted for news outlets Sky News and The Times, marks Reform’s weakest showing in nine months and comes amid growing scrutiny of the party’s policies and internal dynamics.
The decline follows a period of strong performance for Reform, which had consistently led national polls since the 2025 general election.
Analysts, though, suggest the party’s support may have peaked around October 2025, coinciding with a gradual recovery for the Conservatives under leader Kemi Badenoch and a decline in the public concern over immigration.
Adding to Reform’s challenges, separate YouGov polling released yesterday revealed that Farage trails behind Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Badenoch and Liberal Democrats’ leader Ed Davey in head-to-head matchups for who would make the best next prime minister.
Britons are now tied at 28 per cent each on whether Starmer or Badenoch would be the better choice, indicating a shift in perceptions of leadership suitability.
The poll was taken before the high-profile defection of the Iraqi-born former Conservative chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to Reform yesterday, a move that has sparked mixed reactions within Farage’s party.
Some insiders have expressed concerns that it could be perceived as opportunism, potentially alienating core supporters.
On social media, users dug up old quotes of Zahawi, accusing him of being an establishmentarian who used to embrace migration, among other unpopular opinions on the Right.
Zahawi also is a co-founder of YouGov, the company behind the polling.
Nadhim Zahawi is the most incoherent Reform appointment thus far. His record during Covid goes against the civil liberties Reform espouses.
Would have been quicker for Farage to take over the Tories and let the worst leftists quit, instead of rebuilding the party one by one. pic.twitter.com/MJcGG8gQJL
— Nick Dixon (@NJDixon) January 12, 2026
While the party is quick to react on positive polling, it has not issued a statement yet on the negative poll.
This dip contrasts with earlier January polls, such as think-tank’s More in Common MRP projection on January 4, which had forecast a potential Reform majority in a hypothetical election based on data from more than 16,000 respondents.
The trend in weekly tracking polls, though, points to a fracturing political landscape, with no party commanding a clear lead as Britain grapples with economic pressures.
Nadine Dorries, who also made the jump from the Conservative Party to Reform UK, pleaded for “an accommodation” deal with her ex-party to keep Labour from retaining power.
“I just don’t see a day when a General Election arrives, and if there isn’t some accommodation between Reform and the Conservative Party, we end up with a Labour government,” she said.
Dorries, who is a former culture secretary, said she thinks nobody wants another Labour government.
But a Reform UK spokesman said: “There will be no deals with a Conservative Party that unleashed record mass immigration, trashed the economy and whose leader Kemi Badenoch was right at the centre of every disastrous decision in Government.
“The Tories can never be trusted again.”
