Conservatives leapfrog Reform UK as top pollster suggests 'tectonic plates are shifting' on British right

BREAKING Boy, 16, and 80-year-old pensioner killed in plane crash near Scottish village 1792227299.074 Conservatives leapfrog Reform UK as top pollster suggests 'tectonic plates are shifting' on British right Sources in Kemi Badenoch's party accused Reform of 'letting Labour off the hook' Sign up to the Politics Newsletter Email address Sign up I agree to receive updates and information about my account, the GB News Community, and related products and services from GB News. By signing up you agree to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy and Community Rules. Thank you for signing up! See the latest from GB News here . Choose GB News on Google - add us as a preferred source Choose GB News Support GB News Champion free speech and independent journalism while unlocking exclusive benefits. Support us The Conservatives have leapfrogged Reform UK as a top polling expert suggested "tectonic plates are shifting" among the British right. New polling from Ipsos shows 35 per cent of voters now see the Tories as the main challenger to Andy Burnham's Labour, with just 32 per cent choosing Reform UK. It is the first time Mrs Badenoch's party has led on this measure since the pollster began tracking the question in May last year. Nigel Farage's party had led the Conservatives by 10 points on the main opposition issue as recently as August, and was 28 points ahead back in May. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say Keiran Pedley, the UK director of politics at Ipsos, said: "These findings reflect a political environment that continues to be in flux following Andy Burnham's arrival as Prime Minister and recent struggles for Reform UK. "The Burnham bounce looks real, with the public more likely to see Labour as being at least the largest party after the next general election compared to a month ago. "Meanwhile, in the battle for hearts and minds on the right, the Conservatives continue to make progress. "Time will tell if this leads to a decisive shift in voter preferences in their direction or if this is merely a low ebb for Reform UK that they recover from." The new poll is good news for Kemi Badenoch | PA A Tory source told the Mail: "Kemi Badenoch and her team are putting in the hard work and taking the fight to this Labour government, unlike Reform who are letting them off the hook. "The Conservatives are different from the party that lost the last election, and different from Reform. We are the only party that can unite the country behind a common-sense plan to get Britain working again." Meanwhile, the mood is much bleaker at Reform HQ, with one source saying: "Senior party figures now believe they could be heading to just 15 per cent in the polls as soon as next month. "It’s like being on a coach trip to Portugal, but we’ve run out of petrol in Dover." LATEST DEVELOPMENTS Reform UK officials cleared by internal inquiry over donations sting as Met Police continue criminal investigation Mega poll hands Andy Burnham 56-seat majority in Labour revival as Tories pushed ahead of Reform UK Rift on the Right gifts Andy Burnham another by-election victory as Rupert Lowe 'stitch-up' deepens Sources in Reform admitted their polling could drop to 15 per cent | PA In recent months, Reform UK has been hit with an avalanche of scandals as the party comes under increasing scrutiny. Police investigations into its donations and a fresh racism and sexism scandal followed an undercover sting that exposed offensive language from multiple councillors and candidates. Mr Farage himself remains under parliamentary investigation over an undeclared £5million gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. Runcorn and Helsby MP Sarah Pochin was caught on camera describing her own party as "so f***ing chauvinistic", telling an undercover reporter: "S***...they just exclude you if you’re a woman...It’s really tough being a girl with all of this alpha male s*** going on." In response, Robert Jenrick, the party’s Treasury spokesman, told the BBC: "That’s not my experience of Reform." Reform MP Sarah Pochin appeared to call her own party 'so f***ing chauvinistic' | PA Meanwhile, Mrs Badenoch's party conference in Birmingham energised supporters with pledges to abolish inheritance tax on family homes, add 50,000 new prison places, and move young people off benefits and into employment. Conservative peer Lord Hayward said the poll's finding could prove huge for the party's fortunes. He said: "If, particularly in what we have as a multi-party nation where parties are jockeying to be first or second, it's quite important that in people's minds you are the prime opposition to the Government. "The Tories have got to wait another four to six weeks to be certain that their post-conference poll bounce remains as more than just a bounce." Andy Burnham is still the preferred figure to win the next election | REUTERS Despite this progress, voters remain sceptical about Mrs Badenoch's path to Downing Street. The Ipsos data shows that just 32 per cent of respondents consider it likely she will become prime minister, up from 24 per cent a year ago, but still a modest figure. Mr Farage's prospects have moved in the opposite direction. In May, half of those polled thought he would eventually lead the country; that number has now fallen to 33 per cent. Mr Burnham himself is seen as more likely than not to win the next election, with 43 per cent backing that outcome against 33 per cent who disagree. 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