Overview
- A More in Common poll reported Reform 10 points ahead of Labour after a three-point lead the previous week, while an Ipsos survey last weekend put the gap at 12.
- Keir Starmer called Reform’s plan to abolish indefinite leave to remain a racist and immoral policy in a BBC interview and framed the national choice as decency versus division at Labour’s conference.
- The push provoked blowback as Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy retracted an unevidenced Hitler Youth claim about Nigel Farage and pensioner Joyce Todd publicly disputed the PM’s conference anecdote about their 2015 meeting.
- Coverage describes a calculated strategy modeled on Emmanuel Macron’s contests with Marine Le Pen to stigmatize Farage and encourage tactical support from Green and Liberal Democrat voters.
- Commentary highlights Conservative turmoil, citing reports that 18 ex-Tory MPs have defected to Reform and noting pressure on Kemi Badenoch as the party heads into its Manchester conference.