Nigel Farage’s Reform party has overtaken the Conservatives in a poll for the first time in a national poll.
The Tories were pushed into third in the survey, by pollsters YouGov one point behind Reform on 18 percent to 19 percent
The findings will come as a body blow to Rishi Sunak after a disastrous election campaign and risks triggering panic among many Tory MPs.
As the TV showdown opened he told millions of viewers “we are now the opposition to Labour”.
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The poll found support for Reform had increased by two points to 19 per cent while the Tories were unchanged on 18 per cent.
At the end of the debate, Mr Farage said to Ms Mordaunt: “A vote for you is actually now a vote for Labour.”
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Many Tories now will be wondering if this was a freak poll or if more with Reform going further in front are set to be unleashed over the last three weeks of the election campaign. If Reform builds up a lead of five or more points it could see the world’s oldest political party go into a meltdown and face a wipeout.
It’s unprecedented but ultimately the Speaker decides.
I imagine that if, e.g., the SNP, Greens and Plaid Cymru agreed to back the Lib Dems to be the Opposition, the Speaker would take that into account. If neither the Conservatives nor the Lib Dems were able to get the support of smaller parties, I’m sure that in this scenario he would pick the Conservatives, on the basis that they had the most votes and therefore the most public support.