A poll showed Reform gaining ground on Labour and the Tories today in the wake of bombshell immigration figures.
Research by More in Common found Nigel Farage‘s outfit was up three points in the week after official statistics revealed the UK’s record for net inflows had been smashed.
The survey – conducted between November 29 and December 2 – put Reform on 21 per cent. Labour dropped two points on 26 per cent and the Conservatives were down one on 28 per cent.
Sir Keir blamed the Tory government and admitted he must bring down immigration after huge revisions to official data published last Thursday showed the net level was 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
That was 166,000 above the initial estimate of 740,000.
A similar revision was made for net migration in the year to December 2023, which was initially believed to be 685,000 and is now put at 866,000, an increase of 181,000.
Arrivals in the 12 months to June this year were 728,000 higher than those leaving the country. In itself that was almost as much as the previous long-term immigration record.
Research by More in Common found Nigel Farage ‘s outfit was up three points in the week after official statistics revealed the UK’s record for net inflows had been smashed
Mr Farage seized on immigration statistics last week, describing them as ‘horrendous
The ONS attributed the radical shift to more complete data and improvements in how it estimates the behaviour of people arriving in the UK from outside the EU.
Mr Farage seized on the statistics, describing them as ‘horrendous if you want to travel around Britain’s motorways, horrendous if you want your kids or grandkids to ever get a foot onto the housing ladder’.
The changes in the More in Common polling were against research carried out the previous week.
A separate poll for Find Out Now released last night showed Reform overtaking Labour into second place, although that has not been replicated in other surveys yet.
Sir Keir has accused the Tories of using Brexit to pursue an ‘open borders experiment’ saying they had failed ‘time and again’ to get the system under control.
He said he had done a ‘double take’ on seeing the numbers, branding them ‘far too high’ and saying they must reduce ‘significantly’.
However, Sir Keir has refused to set any targets for reducing immigration.
Keir Starmer (pictured in Edinburgh today) has accused the Tories of using Brexit to pursue an ‘open borders experiment’ saying they had failed ‘time and again’ to get the system under control