British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted that voting for Reform UK would be “handing Labour a blank cheque” as he played down a major opinion poll showing Nigel Farage’s party overtaking the Conservatives.
Mr Sunak emphasised that “we are only halfway through this election” and the choice between the Tories and Labour will “crystallise for people between now and polling day”.
It came after Reform UK leader Mr Farage claimed his party was now “the opposition to Labour” and flipping the Conservative campaign rhetoric by saying a vote for the Tories is a vote for Labour.
A YouGov survey commissioned by the Times newspaper had Mr Farage’s party at 19% and the Conservatives on 18% in voting intention, in a crossover moment which is the latest blow to Tory hopes of returning to government.
However, Mr Sunak, who was taking a break from the campaign trail to meet world leaders in Italy, expressed confidence his party would regain its lead over Reform UK.
He told reporters at the G7 summit in Puglia: “We are only halfway through this election, so I’m still fighting very hard for every vote.
“And what that poll shows is – the only poll that matters is the one on July 4 – but if that poll was replicated on July 4, it would be handing Labour a blank cheque to tax everyone, tax their home, their pension, their car, their family, and I’ll be fighting very hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“And actually, when I’ve been out and about talking to people, they do understand that a vote for anyone who is not a Conservative candidate is just a vote to put Keir Starmer in No 10.”
He added that there is a “massive difference” between Labour and the Tories, claiming that Labour would “raise the tax burden to the highest level in this country’s history” after Mr Starmer’s party launched its manifesto yesterday.
“I think that choice will crystallise for people between now and polling day,” Mr Sunaksaid.
In the YouGov poll which revealed the Tory-Reform reversal, Labour remains in the lead at 37% of voting intention, with the Liberal Democrats at 14%, the Greens at 7%, the SNP at 3%, Plaid Cymru at 1% and others at 2%.
It was conducted on a sample size of 2,211 adults in Britain between 12 and 13 June and pollsters caveated that Reform’s lead is within the margin of error.
