Labour has fallen to its lowest rating in a YouGov poll, with Sir Keir Starmer’s party almost level with the Conservatives, Greens and Liberal Democrats.
The new poll, commissioned by The Times, found that just 17 per cent of voters back Labour, the same number that would vote for Kemi Badenoch’s Tories, while Reform UK continue to surge ahead on 27 per cent.
The Greens sit at 16 per cent, the party’s highest level of support, closely followed by the Liberal Democrats on 15 per cent.
It comes as Sir Keir has been warned that he could struggle to turn the party’s fortunes around following last week’s defeat in a Welsh by-election.
Labour faces threats from the left and the right, with concerns about voters being lost to Reform or the surging Greens.
Tuesday’s figures represent the lowest rating that Labour have recorded in YouGov figures, and show support for the Greens is surging among younger voters.
The data suggests that 40 per cent of people aged 18-24 currently intend to vote for Zack Polanski’s party, with Labour lagging in second at 21 per cent, and the Liberal Democrats in third on 13 per cent.
Among over-65s, Reform are in the lead.
It comes after Labour were pushed into third place in the Caerphilly by-election last week, recording just 11 per cent of the vote in the contest for the Senedd seat.
They finished behind Nigel Farage’s Reform and Plaid Cymru, who were victorious.
It was the first time that Labour had lost an election in the former mining town in more than a century, and the prime minister said that he had been “deeply disappointed” by the result and that his party “clearly need to do much more”.
Pollsters and politicians are looking ahead to next year’s local elections, as well as national elections for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, with predictions that they could be a bruising prospect for the government.
The landmark elections will be a crucial test of how Labour are performing in power, and could be seen as a deadline for the prime minister to start delivering on the government’s priorities.
Following the defeat, the Andy Burnham-allied pressure group Mainstream warned that Labour “will be wiped out in Wales next May without a major reset”, advising Sir Keir to “reject the hyper-factional culture [that is] determined to concentrate power at the top of the party”.
Ipsos pollster Keiran Pedley told The Independent that it is “hard to see how Labour will turn things around”.
