Britons are backing a general election following Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation announcement on Monday, a new poll shows.
Forty-eight per cent of Britons are in favour of a general election, a YouGov poll has shown, echoing the thoughts of Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage.
The MP for Clacton demanded a general election moments after Sir Keir announced his timetable for resignation on Monday morning.
In an essay published on Substack, Mr Farage said the Labour party will “try their very hardest to hold off on a general election”.
He wrote: “This is how the uniparty operates. The truth is that they are frightened of us.
“That’s why they band together at every by-election to attempt to block us from victory, why they tried to cancel the local elections and why they’ll try their very hardest to hold off on a general election for as long as possible.”
The YouGov shows 35 per cent of Britons do not want a general election, with 17 per cent saying they “don’t know”.
A deeper look at the polls show a strong partisan split, indicating a polarised populous.
The results of the poll
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YOUGOV
Reform voters overwhelmingly back a general election at 88 per cent in favour, in step with the party’s leader.
Mr Farage reiterated his point while being interviewed on GB News yesterday, telling Christopher Hope that once a new Prime Minister succeeds Sir Keir, it “has to be put to the public”.
Seventy-two per cent of Tory voters were in favour of a national vote.
The majority of Liberal Democrats and the Green voters were in the “no general election” camp, both at 52 per cent.
Mr Burnham won the Makerfield by-election last week with a comfortable majority
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GETTY
However, 37 per cent of Lib Dems were in favour, shortly followed by Greens at 30 per cent.
Sixty-two per cent of Labour supporters are against the country heading to the polls, with just over a quarter in favour.
Other politicians have not been so explicit in their calling a general election as Mr Farage.
The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said a general election must be called if Mr Burnham is unable to fund defence properly.
She said: “If Andy Burnham does not have any answers on national security, we should have a general election now.”
The MP for West Essex said she was “not worried” about a national vote, adding Reform is “not ready for governing”.
Leader of the Lib Dems Sir Ed Davey has not mentioned a general election, but did respond to Sir Keir’s resignation, writing on X: “The carousel of Prime Ministers keeps turning, but nothing really changes.”
Zack Polanski, leader of the Green party indicated he would be open to working with a Burnham-led Government.
When asked if he would consider partnering with Mr Burnham in a coalition, Mr Polanski said: “It’s hard to know what my relationship will be with Andy Burnham, because it depends what version of Andy Burnham turns up.
“There’s an old Westminster joke you’ll know about a Milibandite, a Blairite and a Corbynite. I guess it depends which version turns up.
“I’m not just talking about the personality of the man – he’s someone I have time for – but in terms of what the politics are.”
It is looking highly likely Mr Burnham will be the next Prime Minister, possibly as soon as July 17.
There are currently no leadership challengers to the freshly-sworn in Makerfield MP after Darren Jones said this morning he will back Mr Burnham’s premiership.
There is also chatter that Al Carns, the former armed forces minister, will make a leadership challenge to the former Manchester mayor, but he said yesterday he was “not ready to make a decision”.
He added: “What I would say is we need to move from the politics which talk through the tactics and actually think about the strategy and what I’m really looking for are big objective outcomes that we want to get to in 2029 and 2034-35.”
Current voting intention puts Reform UK in the lead at 25 per cent, followed by the Conservatives at 20 per cent, then Labour at 18 per cent.
The Greens are on 15 per cent, closely followed by the Lib Dems at 14 per cent.