The Conservatives have slipped to fourth place behind Labour, Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats, a major poll has found.
In a survey that will raise fresh questions about Kemi Badenoch’s leadership, the Tories were in fourth on 16 per cent of the vote. Sir Ed Davey’s Lib Dems have overtaken the party, the YouGov poll showed, with 17 per cent of the vote.
And, with Labour flatlining in second on 22 per cent, Reform UK continues to surge ahead, with Nigel Farage’s party rising one percentage point to 29 per cent.
Pollster Luke Tryl said Britain’s political landscape has been upended, with “lots in the pool that would have once seemed mind-blowing”.
He warned that the Conservatives risk “going the way of the republicans in France”, following a complete collapse in their support, and “need a strategy out of it”.
Meanwhile polling expert Lord Hayward, a Tory peer, said the YouGov survey “highlights the task the party faces when confronted by a populist with no record of government”.
According to Electoral Calculus, if the poll was the result in a general election, the Conservatives would be reduced to 17 seats while Reform would have a majority on 346.
The poll will pile pressure on Ms Badenoch as she tries to turn the party’s fortunes around after it suffered its worst ever defeat in last year’s general election with the terrible results continuing into this year’s local elections earlier this month.
Her task has been complicated by the rise of Reform, with even Sir Keir Starmer painting Mr Farage’s party now as the true opposition.
Mr Farage gained 677 local councillors and overall control of 10 councils in this month’s local elections on another devastating night for the Tories, and questions are already swirling about Ms Badenoch’s leadership.
The Independent revealed in the wake of the results that Conservative MPs were meeting to discuss how to remove their leader, with panic growing over the future of the party.
“We cannot continue as we are and she [Ms Badenoch] is just not up to the task,” one of the MPs said.
Being overtaken by the Liberal Democrats demonstrates the scale of the challenge facing the Conservatives as they try to rebuild after the general election.
And in a sign of how badly they are doing, Tory insiders have been alarmed that they have been unable to find candidates for two council by-elections in north west Norfolk for 5 June, an area which has traditionally been a heartland for the Conservative Party.
The party is desperate to win back voters lost to Mr Farage’s Reform over its record on immigration and crime. But in appealing to right-leaning Reform voters, the party risks further alienating more moderate voters and pushing them towards Sir Ed’s party.
A Reform spokesman said: "We don’t usually comment on a minor party, however, this is the end of the Conservative Party. It’s quite clear now that only one party can beat Labour at the next general election and that’s Reform UK."
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