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UK Local Elections 2026
23AUG

Reform plateau breaks after five weeks

1 min read
19:09UTC

YouGov's five-week Reform plateau broke in mid-July, with the Conservatives and Labour tied at 19% and the Greens up to 15%.

PoliticsDeveloping
Key takeaway

YouGov's Reform plateau broke, leaving the Conservatives and Labour tied at 19%.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

For five weeks, opinion polls had barely moved: Reform UK sitting comfortably ahead of everyone else. That finally changed in YouGov's poll taken 12-13 July. Reform dropped slightly to 24%, while the Conservatives and Labour are now tied at 19% each, and the Greens jumped two points to 15%, their biggest single move of the whole parliament so far.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

YouGov's own fieldwork notes flag the 12-13 July poll as its first conducted after Burnham's confirmation as Labour leader was locked in, rather than merely rumoured, the most likely proximate trigger for movement after five weeks of an unchanged Reform lead.

The two-point jump for the Greens, their fastest movement of the parliament, coincides with the same fieldwork window, suggesting some of the shift is undecided or soft Labour-considering voters moving to a clearer alternative rather than direct Reform-to-Green switching, though YouGov's topline does not publish internal transfer data.

First Reported In

Update #12 · The finance bill Reform outran is back

YouGov· 15 Jul 2026
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