Nigel Farage has declared that Reform UK is now the main opposition to Labour after a YouGov poll showed his party overtaking the Conservatives for the first time. The survey, conducted after the launch of the Tory manifesto, put Reform on 19% (up two points) while the Tories remained at 18%. Labour dropped one point to 37%.
Speaking at the start of a seven-way ITV debate, Farage said: 'Just before we came on air we overtook the Conservatives in the national opinion polls. We are now the opposition to Labour.' The claim marks a dramatic shift in the political landscape less than three weeks before the general election.
During the debate, Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner clashed with Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer after Denyer suggested Labour was being timid. Rayner retorted: 'I have never been called timid in my life.' She urged voters to 'turn the page and have change in Britain' on July 4.
Rayner also took on Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt over the Conservatives' record on the NHS. 'The NHS is one of our proudest achievements and it will be Labour that will have to fix it again,' she said, adding that Tory austerity had caused the workforce crisis. Mordaunt faced laughter from the studio audience when she claimed Britain's schools are 'world class'.
