A JL Partners survey found Reform UK and Labour tied among active trade union members, adding to signs of shifting working-class support after Labour’s decline since taking power in 2024.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has drawn level with the Labour Party among active trade union members, according to a new JL Partners survey that points to a significant shift inside one of Labour’s traditional bases of support.
The survey found that Reform UK and Labour each have 28% support among active union members, The Times of London reported. The findings come after Labour’s support among union members fell by 20 points since Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer entered office in 2024, while Reform’s support among the same group rose by 12 points during that period.
The polling also found Reform ahead of Labour among members of two of Britain’s largest unions. Among Unite members, 36% backed Reform, compared with 30% who supported Labour. Among GMB members, Reform led Labour 31% to 22%.
Farage said the results reflected what he has seen while campaigning in working-class communities.
“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,” Farage said.
Farage also said the poll suggested trade union leaders are increasingly disconnected from their members. He argued that the 11 unions formally affiliated with Labour should “listen to their members” and consider aligning with Reform instead.
The survey follows major local election gains for Reform, which won 1,450 council seats across England last month. Many of those victories came in areas where Labour had previously held stronger support.
The shift has renewed attention on Labour’s weakening position in parts of the so-called Red Wall, the name often used for traditionally Labour-supporting, working-class areas in northern England. That erosion accelerated after the 2016 Brexit referendum, when many Labour leaders sided with the Remain campaign despite strong Leave sentiment in some of the party’s historic constituencies.
Since then, Reform has sought to expand beyond disaffected Conservative voters and appeal directly to working-class voters who supported Brexit and no longer feel represented by the major parties. Farage and his party have spent the past two years campaigning in traditional Labour areas as part of that effort.
Reform has also taken positions outside the usual Conservative economic platform. The party has supported nationalizing key industries such as steel production, arguing the move would protect British jobs from foreign competitors including Communist China. Reform has also proposed eliminating income tax on overtime hours, a policy aimed at workers seeking higher take-home pay.
The next major test for Reform’s working-class appeal is expected later this month in a special election in Makerfield. The contest follows the resignation of Josh Simons, who vacated his seat in the House of Commons to allow Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to launch another bid for the Labour leadership and challenge Starmer after Labour’s poor local election showing.
Burnham, who attended Cambridge and served in two previous Labour governments, has sought to present himself as a working-class advocate after nearly a decade as mayor of Manchester. He is expected to face Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon, a local Army reservist and plumbing business owner.
The Makerfield race will offer another measure of whether Reform can turn polling gains among union members and working-class voters into parliamentary momentum.
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