REFORM is giving Labour “one hell of a run for their money”, Nigel Farage has declared ahead of next month’s local elections.
The party leader said his right-wing insurgents were “parking their tanks on the lawns of the Red Wall”.
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An exclusive Sun poll today revealed Reform is making deep inroads into Labour’s traditional heartlands in the North and Midlands.
Brandishing our front page story at a rally in County Durham, a buoyant Mr Farage hailed Reform’s “astonishing progress” in hoovering up Sir Keir Starmer’s voters.
He said: “We’re giving them a hell of a run for their money, and… I get it, they’ve got 10 times the number of staff we’ve got, they’ve got a lot more money than we’ve got, they’ve got a much bigger machine than we’ve got.
“But it is going to be, I think, incredibly close in Runcorn. So in the Midlands, in the North, in Wales and in Scotland, Reform is now the opposition to the Labour Party, with the Conservatives trailing some way behind.”
Reform are odds-on favourites to win the Runcorn by-election on May 1 and overturn a whopping 14,000 Labour majority.
Speaking in County Durham – a former mining community – Mr Farage accused Labour of deserting the working classes and becoming a “very middle class party”.
Pitching Reform as the natural home of disaffected Labour voters, he said: “Reform are parking their tanks on the lawns of the red wall.
“Today’s the first day I’ve said that but I absolutely mean it, and we’re here, and we’re here to stay.
“And the evidence is that people who are switching to us, this is not a short term protest. They actually believe in us.”
Turning his fire on the Tories, he accused Kemi Badenoch’s party of a “sheer level of betrayal” over broken promises on Brexit and immgration.
Voters demand radical reform of immigration, the NHS and the economy.
Our survey carried out by Survation shows just 23 per cent say Britain isn’t broken and nine per cent “don’t know”.
Two thirds believe “the country is heading in the wrong direction”, with only 21 per cent saying it is going the right way.
The shock survey shows Reform on course for big gains in May’s elections — and Mr Farage beating Sir Keir head-to-head on who would make the best PM.
It comes as worried Labour has dramatically increased attacks on Mr Farage in recent months.
Almost a third said Mr Farage is the man to end small boat crossings, compared to 17 per cent for the PM.
Polling agency Survation spoke to voters in the North West, North East, Yorkshire, and East and West Midlands — areas where in last year’s General Election Labour reclaimed scores of seats that they lost in 2019.
And in a damning verdict after just nine months in power, responses suggest the Government retaining fewer than three in four of their 2024 voters.
Reform’s support since the last election has soared from 18 to 30 per cent.
At the same time, Labour’s vote share has plummeted from 39 to 27 per cent.
There is bad news too for the Tories — just 26 per cent see them as the biggest threat to the Government compared to 44 per cent who believe it is Reform.
Sir Keir’s net rating in the North and Midlands is -26 per cent, based on 27 per cent approving of him and 53 per cent disapproving.
It compares to Mr Farage on -4 and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch on -8.
Voters in the Red Wall heartlands are particularly damning of Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who has an approval rating of -35 after last year’s Budget and cuts to winter fuel payments.
Asked who would make the best PM, Mr Farage pips Sir Keir by 26 to 25 per cent, with Ms Badenoch on 12.
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Mr Farage also leads the PM by 30 per cent to 22 when respondents were asked which party leader best represents the views of working people.
And today the Reform boss tells The Sun that the Government has abandoned its traditional voters to “pander to the middle classes”.
Reform also holds a 16-point lead over Labour on which party “represents real change”, in a hammer blow to the party’s 2024 election promise to change Britain.
Mr Farage leads Sir Keir by 18 points on who “can fix immigration”, by 15 points on who would take “radical decisions” and by ten points on who would be best at “standing up for Britain”.
He also has a nine-point lead on “who is the stronger leader” — polling 35 per cent to the PM’s 26.
Sir Keir is a fierce critic of Reform when it comes to the NHS, but respondents only gave him a five per cent edge — 30 to 25 — when asked who can best improve the NHS and health services.
Next month’s local elections are being pared back in some parts of England.
Many councils due for election are being postponed as they are being merged with other authorities, meaning they will cease to exist next year.
Based on ALL councils in the North and Midlands having local elections this May, Reform would get 27 per cent, ahead of Labour on 26 and the Tories 21.
Asked about voting intentions for areas where elections ARE going ahead in May, Reform’s share rises to 29 per cent, Labour’s falls to 20 with the Tories on 24.
Most people (53 per cent) said the cost of living is the most important issue for deciding how they will vote next month.
Next came immigration (35), health (32), the economy (28) and crime (23 per cent).
Immigration is also seen as the area which needs the most radical reform (32 per cent) — followed by the NHS on 31.
Survation CEO Damian Lyons-Lowe told The Sun: “On May 1st, elections will be held for councils in England that were last contested in 2021 — a cycle during which Reform UK did not stand candidates.
“Today’s polling indicates Reform’s presence this year is likely to cause huge disruption to the status quo across the Midlands and the North.”
And Daniel Friderichs of Friderichs Advisory Partners, who commissioned the survey added: “Now we know why the Prime Minister has been increasing his attacks on Reform UK in recent weeks and months. Nigel Farage is a clear threat to Keir Starmer’s premiership.”
Mr Farage today makes a major campaign speech in Durham.
Last night he told The Sun that his party will be “planting our tanks” firmly on Labour’s lawns.
