Support for Reform UK plummets to lowest level in two years

Reform UK has recorded its worst result in YouGov polling for two years, following months of turbulence for the party.

The new poll has put their support down by two points at 21 per cent – neck-and-neck with the Tories in second place. Both parties are two points behind Labour in first at 23 per cent.

In third place is the Green Party, up three points with 14 per cent support. The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, are on 12 points, down by one.

Although Reform made gains in the devolved and local elections this May, the party has since become bogged down in controversies over donations to Nigel Farage, has faced competition on its right from Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain, and has lost its lead in voting intention polls since Andy Burnham took office.

The latest polling has returned the lowest share YouGov has recorded for Reform UK since the pollster restarted its voting intention tracker in January 2025. It comes just days after Mr Farage‘s individual popularity reached a record low.

A YouGov poll published earlier this month shows that almost seven in ten Britons (69 per cent) say they have an unfavourable opinion of the Reform leader – the highest figure recorded by YouGov's tracker for Mr Farage in the ten years it has run.

This includes nearly six in ten Britons (57 per cent) seeing Mr Farage very unfavourably, while just 24 per cent have a favourable opinion of the Reform UK leader.

Mr Farage now has a net favourability rating of -45, identical to Sir Keir Starmer’s score just before his resignation as prime minister. This is down from a rating of -31 this time last year, with Britons now nearly three times as likely to see him negatively than positively

To make matters worse for Mr Farage, a major donations scandal completely overshadowed what he hoped would be a significant comeback speech at Reform’s party conference in Birmingham at the start of September.

Allegations that the party arranged illegal donations led to the resignation of Mr Farage’s chief of staff and longtime aide Dan Jukes, as well as policy director James Orr.

With the conference framed around Reform’s plans for its “first 100 days” in government, the discussion was knocked off course as Mr Farage was instead forced to answer questions on whether he could bounce back from another scandal.

The Metropolitan Police have since confirmed they have launched a criminal investigation into claims that Reform UK breached party donation rules on illegal foreign funding.

It comes after the force said they were considering complaints from Labour and the Lib Dems over the video footage obtained by Channel 4and investigative group Verbatim as part of the sting operation.

But despite the recent controversy, last weekend it emerged that two crypto-billionaires have donated £36 million each to Reform UK.

The donations from Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo together amount to three quarters of the money spent at the last general election by all parties combined.

Reform has said it will use the money to fund its preparations for office, and that the men want “nothing” in return.

But campaigners have said the £72 million gifts demonstrate the need for a cap on political donations, and Spotlight on Corruption said the situation “creates risks that the game will be rigged in favour of those with the most cash”.

The latest YouGov polling spoke to more than 2,000 adults between 20 and 21 September 2026.