By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-01-07 16:06:22 | Updated at 2025-01-08 14:32:14
22 hours ago
Reform UK could narrowly beat Labour in Scotland if a General election were held tomorrow, a new poll of national voting intention suggests.
The projection comes after recent polling put the party at over 10 per cent north of the border, suggesting they could secure up to 12 MSPs in the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections under the proportional representation system.
The latest survey, conducted by Deltapoll for the Mail on Sunday, has Nigel Farage's party polling neck and neck with Labour at 17 per cent.
This is five points above the Conservatives, who are trailing at 12 per cent. The SNP is leading the race at 32 per cent, however, this could soon change.
The new survey has Nigel Farage's party polling neck and neck with Labour at 17 per cent
PA
Britain's favourite elections guru recently told GB News that Reform could effectively constitute a "blocking minority" in Holyrood if the party secures up to 12 MSPs next year.
This would preclude a clear coalition among pro-independence parties like the SNP and Greens or unionist parties such as Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats.
Party insiders are quietly hoping for such an outcome ahead of the next General Election in 2029.
"The papers seem to suggest that we are in a position possibly to cause a huge upset, a breakthrough in a way that nobody would ever consider possible," Gawain Towler, Reform's former communications director recently told GB News, adding: "The Scots must be gnashing their teeth in a horrible fashion."
Don't run before you can walk
Towler rightly points out that the polls cannot predict the future, so it's important to manage expectations.
Indeed, much can change this far out from the next General Election.
Reform's biggest roadblock to power will be whether the party can professionalise in time.
As the party grows in size and stature over the next few years, it will attract ever more scrutiny, and a few disreputable characters will inevitably slip through the cracks, Towler says.
This is something that Reform is "taking very, very seriously", says James McMurdock, MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock.
He acknowledged that there's no "quick answer", especially as Reform encourages people of all stripes to step forward so "we have the widest and biggest pool of candidates" ahead of the upcoming elections.
However, the party is "conscious" of quality rising in lockstep with quantity, particularly as it looks to become a credible alternative to the two main parties, McMurdock recently told GB News, adding that his party is 'working very hard' to vet candidates.
The Reform MP says this extends to politicians already in the Westminster bubble looking to jump ship.
He said: "We recognise that there could be candidates from existing parties who are just looking to save their own skin. We're very, very conscious of that. And just because someone wants to defect to us does not mean we accept them.
"In fact, it may not be widely understood, but there are conversations that have been had in the background where we have decided other people are not right for us."
