A new poll of workers’ union members has revealed surging support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and collapsing support for the governing Labour Party.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has drawn level with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party—founded to represent union workers over a century ago—for support among public sector union members, according to a new poll. 📺 DETAIL: Conducted by JL Partners, the poll of roughly 1,000 public sector union members found that Reform UK and Labour are tied at 28 percent support. This signifies a 20-point decline for Labour since the most recent general election, which took place in early July 2024. In particular, the poll revealed that Reform UK is leading with members of Unite and GM, the two largest public sector worker unions in the United Kingdom, leading Labour by six and nine points, respectively. In reaction to the poll’s findings, union bosses criticized the government’s policy decisions, including a lack of support for oil and gas workers, plans to cut the winter fuel allowance and benefits for the disabled, and a failure to handle the country’s growing cost-of-living crisis. Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite, described the results of the poll as “damning but not surprising,” while Nigel Farage said: “This polling tells me exactly what I have seen on the campaign trail. Labour is no longer the party of the patriotic working class… That mantle now belongs to Reform, which is now the party of those who work hard but for whom the system doesn’t work.” 💬 KEY QUOTE: “Labour has abandoned the working class, and the working class have abandoned Labour.” – Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite 🎯 IMPACT: The polling underscores a major shift in political alignment among unionized workers, threatening Labour’s deep and historical ties to the trade union movement, which donated a combined total of £2.4 million to the party during the last general election. Since then, Unite, the Labour Party’s largest financial backer, has reduced its contributions to the party by 40 percent, threatening the party’s ability to campaign. Experts have since warned that support for Labour will continue to erode in the party’s key constituencies should it fail to address working-class concerns. The poll follows reports that trade union officials are prepared to work with Reform UK to settle local labor disputes, such as the ongoing trash collection strike in Birmingham, one of the largest cities in England. The collapse in support for the Labour Party follows disastrous results for the party at the local elections last month. |
NEW: Polling of public sector union members in @thetimes
Westminster voting intention, change shown on 2024
REF 28 (+12)
LAB 28 (-20)
CON 13 (-3)
GRN 11 (+6)
LDEM 8 (-2)14th-19th May 2026, representative sample of 1,002 public sector union membershttps://t.co/dK69yzUl7C
— JL Partners (@JLPartnersPolls) May 31, 2026
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