Andy Burnham would be beaten by Reform UK at the next general election if he were to replace Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister, a new poll suggests.
A Labour Party with the Greater Manchester mayor at the helm would have the backing of 20 per cent of voters, two points more than a party led by Sir Keir.
But the polling, conducted by BMG Research, showed that Reform would still be three points ahead of a Burnham-led Labour Party on 23 per cent.
Mr Burnham leading the party would provide some level of boost, however, it would cause a two-point fall in support for both Reform and the Greens, who were on 9 points.
But there was also a slightly higher number of voters saying they were unsure or would not vote than those who said the same in a scenario with Sir Keir as leader.
A head-to-head poll does not capture how voters would vote in a potential general election where they would also be judged on their party’s record and manifesto, and they would be voting for an individual local MP rather than a party leader.
However, the latest polling will still come as a blow to Mr Burnham’s campaign, as he is hoping to persuade voters he would have a better chance of seeing off the threat from Reform.
It comes as Mr Burnham attempts to stave off the threat from the right in the upcoming Makerfield by-election where he is standing for Labour in a bid to return to Westminster.
Sources close to the politician told The Times he would rip up multibillion-pound asylum accommodation contracts if he became prime minister – a policy that is likely to win votes from people who are concerned about the ballooning cost of housing refugees.
Instead, the Greater Manchester mayor is expected to devolve the responsibility for sourcing accommodation to local authorities.
The latest polling, published first in the i Paper, counter the results of a recent survey from More in Common, which suggested Mr Burnham had a good chance of beating Mr Farage at a general election.
Mr Burnham would beat the Reform UK leader in head-to-head polls by 14 percentage points, More in Common (MIC) found.
But MIC also warned that a potentially “dangerous” Brexit row within Labour could cost Mr Burnham his chances of winning in Makerfield.
In order to have a chance at the Labour leadership, Mr Burnham must first win the parliamentary seat, which voted to leave the European Union in 2016 and where the other frontrunner is the pro-Brexit Reform UK.
In a briefing on last month’s local election results, Luke Tryl from More in Common said that in a straight head-to-head Mr Burnham would beat Mr Farage by 14 percentage points, albeit with “lots of don’t knows”.
Mr Burnham also performed about 10 points better than Sir Keir against Mr Farage, he said.
Separately, a different More in Common poll found Mr Burnham would boost Labour’s support by eight percentage points, taking it above Reform UK, if he took charge of the party.
That would lift Labour to 30 per cent overall vote share, ahead of Reform which has topped opinion polls since last autumn, on 27, with the Tories on 20, the survey of 2,599 people found.
BMG surveyed a representative sample of 1,511 GB adults between 26 and 28 May.
