7OCT

Greens overtake Labour in YouGov national VI

1 min read

13:09UTC

YouGov's Westminster voting intention poll on 19-20 April fieldwork showed Reform on 27%, the Greens on 17% and Labour on 16%: the first national poll in which the Greens have outright led Labour, with Reform recording its largest-ever national lead.

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Key takeaway

The Greens lead Labour nationally for the first time; Reform's lead is the largest it has recorded.

YouGov's Westminster voting intention poll on 19-20 April fieldwork put Reform UK on 27%, the Green Party on 17%, the Conservatives on 17%, Labour on 16%, the Liberal Democrats on 14%, and Restore Britain on 3%⁠¹. The sample size was 2,472. It is the first national Westminster poll in which The Greens lead Labour outright, and Reform's largest-ever national polling lead. Labour finishes fifth on the central estimate.

The Greens' rise tracks the same urban-Labour decay registered by the Salford Barton and Winton by-election the same week, where the party finished third on 18.7%. Reform's 27% sits inside the polling band that has held since February. The novelty in the sample is the Labour floor, which has now broken below The Greens. Whether the result is a single-poll outlier or a sustained reordering of the centre-left vote is the question every party manager will be reading the next YouGov for. The local elections on 7 May supply the first ballot test.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Westminster voting intention polls ask a sample of people which party they would vote for in a UK general election. YouGov's poll from 19-20 April 2026 , the most recent before the 7 May local elections , showed the Green Party (17%) ahead of Labour (16%) for the first time in any national poll. Reform UK led on 27%. The Conservatives tied The Greens at 17%. Labour finished fifth on 16%, behind four other parties. In the UK's Westminster voting system (first-past-the-post), a party's national vote share does not directly determine how many MPs it wins. Labour's vote is geographically concentrated in cities, meaning it wins more seats per percentage point than The Greens. The Greens won four Westminster seats in the 2024 general election with fewer total votes than this poll suggests they now hold nationally. The party's growth under Zack Polanski, who took over as leader in September 2025, has been driven by anti-government voters, particularly under-40s in urban areas, who are deserting Labour over Gaza, housing, and cost of living.

What could happen next?

Consequence
Labour now faces three-front vote loss: Reform on its right flank in traditional northern seats, Greens on its left in urban seats, and Your Party targeting Muslim-majority wards.

Sources:YouGov

Mentions:YouGov →Green Party →Reform UK →Restore Britain →Gaza →Liberal Democrats →Westminster →Zack Polanski →

First Reported In

Update #5 · 11 Days to Go: Six-of-six, RPA dies, Welsh lead flips

YouGov· 26 Apr 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

YouGov puts the Greens at 15%, down from 17%

The Greens' 17% pre-election peak (ID:2804) is the baseline against which the 31 May-1 June 15% is measured as a two-point deflation

Occurred 1 Jun 2026

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This Event

Greens overtake Labour in YouGov national VI

Two polling firsts in the same sample, days from the local elections that will test both the Reform ceiling and the Labour floor on actual ballots.

Different Perspectives

Rhun ap Iorwerth / Welsh Government (Plaid Cymru)

Ap Iorwerth presented six priorities to the Senedd on 22 September without numeric targets or a named partner party, promising to work across the chamber where there is common ground. He says his government will be judged on results.

Michael Marra / Scottish Labour

Marra won the leadership on 19 September, and three days later his 17 MSPs backed Swinney's right-to-decide motion once their child-poverty amendment was written in. He says Scottish Labour's task is to tell voters what it stands for.

Andy Burnham / Labour Party

Burnham told conference in Liverpool on 29 September that Labour's next manifesto will commit to changing the electoral system, and invited every party into a National Commission on Electoral Reform. He has not named a replacement system, and no chair or remit has been published.

Conservative Party (frontbench peers and Kemi Badenoch)

Conservative frontbench peers argued against retrospective rules at the Lords Second Reading on 14 September, a position that protects gifts made before any cap. Kemi Badenoch rejected Burnham's electoral reform commission on 2 October, accusing him of using it to entrench the left.

Reform UK

Reform denied wrongdoing after the Channel 4 News programme, called the sting a hoax by climate activists and said it would cooperate with the Metropolitan Police. In the same month it announced £36m gifts from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne.

Steff Aquarone / Liberal Democrats (North Norfolk)

Aquarone told Rayner in the Commons on 7 September that North Norfolk District Council had spent money preparing for a reorganisation the Government has now withdrawn. He puts the cost of the cancelled merger on districts in the four areas.