The Green Party has surged into second place in the latest UK voting intention poll, leapfrogging the governing Labour Party for the first time in YouGov’s tracking.
Conducted for Sky News and The Times with fieldwork on March 1-2 among 2,073 adults, the poll shows that Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party remains firmly in the lead, with 23 per cent overall, a little down compared to earlier polls.
Most remarkable is the surge of the Greens, which jumped to the second place, totalling 21 per cent.
They are far ahead of Labour, which only had 16 per cent, the same as the Conservative Party.
The Liberal Democrats remained stable on 14 per cent.
With this poll, the Greens get their highest-ever score with YouGov. It marks the first time the party has placed second in the firm’s regular Westminster voting intention series.
YouGov’s head of political polling, Anthony Wells, attributed the sharp four-point rise largely to the publicity surrounding the party’s historic by-election victory in Gorton and Denton, Manchester, on February 26.
“This reflects the Greens appearing to be a more viable option and less of a wasted vote,” he said.
In that contest, Green candidate Hannah Spencer — a local councillor and plumber — secured the party’s first-ever Westminster by-election win and its fifth MP overall, the first in northern England.
Spencer took approximately 41 per cent of the vote, comfortably ahead of Reform UK in second and pushing Labour into third place in what had been one of its safest seats.
The latest poll highlights the Greens’ broadening appeal.
It is now the most popular party among all voters under 50, leading with 49 per cent support among 18 to 24-year-olds and 27 per cent among 25 to 49-year-olds, according to the poll.
Support extends beyond traditional white-collar bases, with notable backing among those in routine and manual occupations.
Among 2024 Labour voters, only 37 per cent say they would stick with the party; 25 per cent would switch to the Greens.
Labour’s 16 per cent represents a record low in recent YouGov polling for the party in government. Its previous recent low was 17 per cent in October 2025.
Reform UK remains in the lead but has fallen from peaks above 29 per cent last year.
The findings come amid ongoing turbulence for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration less than two years after Labour’s 2024 landslide national election victory.
Internal Labour discussions are reportedly split between calls to shift Left on issues such as immigration and warnings against alienating the broader electoral coalition.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones responded to the poll by saying he was “not worried”, according to reports circulating yesterday.
The YouGov/Sky News/The Times poll is the latest in a series of surveys reflecting a highly fragmented political landscape, with both Reform UK and the Greens drawing significant support from disillusioned voters on the traditional Right and Left.
