The left-wing environmentalists are just two points behind poll-topping Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in a new YouGov survey.
LONDON — The Greens polled ahead of Keir Starmer’s governing Labour Party, in data that will deepen grumbling about the British prime minister’s leadership.
The latest voting intention study from YouGov puts the Greens on 21 percent. They rank second only to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, on 23 percent. Starmer’s Labour Party is now neck-and-neck with the center-right Conservatives in joint third place, on 16 percent.
It is the highest the Greens have ever polled for YouGov, and it is the first time they’ve appeared in second place.
A quarter (25 percent) of those surveyed who backed the Labour Party in the 2024 general election said they will now back the Greens. A third (37 percent) said they would continue to support the governing party.
The polling of 2,073 adults in Britain Sunday and Monday came just days after the Greens won the Greater Manchester constituency of Gorton and Denton from Labour.
“The result is likely to have been driven to a significant extent by the publicity from the Denton & Gorton by-election,” said YouGov’s Anthony Wells.
“That result may have had an impact in terms of making the Greens appear a more viable option and less of a wasted vote.”
The study found that the Greens, whose membership numbers have surged since Zack Polanski became leader last September, are the most popular political party in all age categories under 50. Nearly half (49 percent) of 18 to 24-year-olds and just over a quarter (27 percent) of 25 to 29-year-olds said they would back the party.
POLITICO’s Poll of Polls — which aggregates data from multiple sources — has Reform UK on 26 percent, the Conservatives on 17 percent, Labour on 16 percent and the Greens on 15 percent.