Brexit firebrand Farage shakes up UK election fight: UK poll predicts biggest ever Labour win

LONDON: Britain’s opposition Labour party could be on the path to the biggest election victory in its history, pollsters YouGov said on Monday, predicting a thumping 194-seat majority.

The poll, which looked at voting estimates across all UK constituencies, predicted that Labour could win 422 out of 650 seats in the July 4 election.

The Conservatives under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak were predicted to win 140 seats by the YouGov poll, which was carried out for Sky News television.

Labour’s victory would be bigger than its former leader Tony Blair’s majority in 1997 and could see the party now led by Keir Starmer gain 222 seats after its bitter defeat at the last vote in 2019.

The Tories, however, were predicted to lose 232 seats across the country.

“This result would be beyond landslide territory,” YouGov said.

This latest poll will likely make grim reading for Sunak after failing to budge polls suggesting a sizeable Labour lead following nearly two weeks of intensive campaigning.

The smaller opposition Liberal Democrat party was expected to quadruple its seats to 48.

The findings were revealed moments after Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage announced he was taking over as leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party and standing as a candidate in the election.

The poll predicted Reform would win no seats.

Projections also showed that seats held by some big Tory government names were under threat, including those belonging to finance minister Jeremy Hunt and defence minister Grant Shapps.

Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage announced Monday he will stand at the UK general election next month, in a major U-turn that threatens to split the right-wing vote and further imperil the beleaguered ruling Conservatives.

Farage, 60, said he will run for the anti-immigration Reform UK Party in a eurosceptic seat in southeast England, less than two weeks after ruling himself out of the July 4 contest.

He will also return as party leader.

The populist ex-member of the European Parliament (MEP), who has failed on seven previous attempts to be elected to the UK parliament, said he changed his mind after hearing from voters.

His decision could divert key votes away from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s embattled Tories in numerous seats, and could help the Labour opposition seize power for the first time since 2010.

Farage, a longtime vocal supporter of former US president Donald Trump, was unapologetic, insisting that his party could become the UK’s main opposition.

“What I’m really calling for, and what I intend to lead, is a political revolt — a turning of our backs on the political status quo,” he told a London press conference.

“I genuinely believe we can get more votes than the Conservative party,” he added, predicting polls showing a Labour landslide and the Tories in a distant second would shift in his favour.