The Green Party has overtaken Labour to become the second most popular party after their sensational victory at last week’s Gorton and Denton by-election, a new poll has shown.
Zack Polanski’s party has seen its support jump by four points to 21 per cent, while Labour and the Tories were tied on 16 per cent – both down two points, with Labour seeing its lowest score on record.
Out in front was Reform UK, on 23 per cent – down one point. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats remained unchanged on 14 per cent.
The polling, conducted by YouGov for Sky News on Sunday and Monday, showed that the Greens are now the most popular party in all age categories under 50, with some 49 per cent of 18-24 year olds backing the party, as well as 27 per cent of 25 to 49-year-olds.
Anthony Wells, head of global polling from YouGov, said their leap in popularity comes as a result of the Gorton and Denton by-election, a victory which saw the Greens appear a more viable option and less of a wasted vote.
The result, which saw Labour’s Angeliki Stogia come third in a seat which the party previously won with more than 50 per cent of the vote, was a major blow to the prime minister’s struggling authority, amid devastating approval ratings and mounting concern over the direction of government.
The polling will undermine claims made by Sir Keir Starmer that a “mainstream majority” of voters do not want Nigel Farage or Mr Polanski to be prime minister.
Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Monday, in the wake of the bruising Gorton and Denton result, Sir Keir warned: “Politics is changing, and it’s changing decisively”, in an acknowledgement that voters now appear more willing to lend their support to political parties beyond the Conservatives and Labour.
But he added: “I believe, and continue to believe, that there is a mainstream majority in this country who neither want Nigel Farage or Zack Polanski as their prime minister.”
Labour is delivering “progressive change” with “moral purpose” under his leadership, the PM insisted, adding that “generational change” is “already happening” as a result of his government, pointing to the Employment Rights Act and Renters’ Rights Act as examples of laws aimed at helping Labour’s traditional voters.
His remarks came just hours after the Green Party’s newest MP Hannah Spencer was sworn in to Parliament on Monday after winning last week’s poll, becoming the party’s fifth MP in the House of Commons last week when she topped the ballot.
The Green Party now has the highest number of seats it has ever had in the Commons.
Hannah Spencer – a councillor and plumber – received 14,980 votes, while Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin came second with 10,578. Meanwhile, Labour slumped to third place with 9,364 votes, down from 18,555 in the 2024 general election, when the turnout was similarly high in the formerly safe seat.
Top pollster Professor Sir John Curtice described the result as “seismic”, saying it “means the future of British politics is now even more uncertain than it was already”.
The YouGov polling spoke to 2,073 people on Sunday and Monday.
