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Burnham lifts Labour lead
Britain’s governing Labour Party overtook Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in voter polls after Andy Burnham became prime minister on July 20, with More in Common showing Labour up four points to 28% and Reform down two points to 24% in fieldwork carried out between July 24 and 27.
“Labour overtakes far right Reform UK in latest poll after Andy Burnham becomes premier Survey, carried out by More in Common from July 24 to 27 found that 28% of voters would back Labour if a general election were held now Aysu Bicer 27 July 2026•Update: 27 July 2026 LONDON Labour party has moved ahead of Reform UK in a new opinion poll for the first time since March 2025”
The London Evening Standard said the poll’s results came from interviews of more than 2,000 people and that Burnham “hit the ground running” with announcements to ease the cost of living, including axing VAT from electricity bills and a cap of £2 on bus fares outside of London.
The Straits Times reported that a week after Burnham took office, a Survation poll put Labour on 26% after Burnham’s first week, overtaking Reform on 24%.
The same Straits Times account said Labour had been on just 19% in the week before Keir Starmer’s resignation was announced in June, compared with Reform on 27%.
In the Guardian’s weekly tracker, Labour was up four points to 28% while Reform and the Greens dropped to 24% and 8%, with the Tories unchanged at 22% and the Liberal Democrats up one point to 12%.
Quotes, polls, and scrutiny
Luke Tryl, UK director of More in Common, told the London Evening Standard that “It’s only been a week since he entered office, but it’s clear that momentum is on the Prime Minister’s side,” adding that Labour “now leads for the first time since March of last year.”
The Independent quoted polling expert Lord Hayward saying there is “no doubt there is a Burnham bounce and it has happened quicker than most of us expected,” and it also quoted Professor Sir John Curtice warning: “The question for Andy Burnham is how long this will last and only time will tell on that.”
The Guardian linked the polling shift to weeks of negative headlines for Reform and Farage, including undeclared gifts and donations and “a byelection that has descended into farce.”
It also said Burnham told reporters he would not get “carried away” but was pleased to have “connected with people,” while Michael Ashcroft’s focus groups in Clacton highlighted anger at Farage, with constituents accusing him of using them as “pawns in his little game.”
What’s at stake next
The i Paper said the More in Common poll showed 28 per cent of voters would vote for Labour if an election were held tomorrow, with Reform on 24, the Tories on 22, and the Greens down to 8.
“A third poll has recorded Reform UK’s declining popularity in yet more bad news more for Nigel Farage”
It added that if the More in Common poll was replicated at the next general election, Labour would become the biggest party with 268 seats, ahead of the Tories on 120 and Reform on 109.
The Guardian said Reform and Farage faced scrutiny over a £5m donation from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, with a parliamentary standards watchdog investigation launched in May into whether the £5m fell within rules requiring MPs to declare relevant gifts or donations received in the 12 months before entering parliament.
In the same Guardian report, it said payments to Reform revealed by the Guardian are being investigated by the Metropolitan police, and it noted that Scotland Yard is looking at two donations of £250,000 made to the party by Britain Means Business in the weeks before the 2024 general election.
The London Evening Standard also said Burnham faces having to find “tens of billions of pounds” in an autumn Budget to meet defence spending commitments and to pay for his blueprint for Britain.
