Labour has leapfrogged Reform UK to return to lead the polls once again after Andy Burnham’s vow to rethink Brexit appeared to give him a boost in the ratings.
A new poll released by Opinium has seen Labour rise in the polls by two points to 30 – the party’s highest ratings since 2024.
It comes after the prime minister used his first Labour Party conference speech to promise to set out options on the country’s ties to Brussels around the time of a UK-EU summit later this year.
He later said this could include an option to go “all the way” and rejoin the bloc if that is what public opinion favoured. He did not rule out putting a pledge to rejoin in Labour’s next election manifesto.
The survey, conducted in the days after Mr Burnham’s speech, shows over half – 54 per cent – of the adults surveyed agreed Mr Burnham is taking the right approach to Britain’s future relationship with the EU by considering all options. A total of 25 per cent said it was the wrong approach.
Two in five (46 per cent) believe Brexit has done the UK more harm than good while just 13 per cent believe it has done more good than harm. One in five (21 per cent) believe that Brexit has done an equal amount of good and harm.
Reform UK are in second place with 25 per cent, up one point from last week.
The Conservatives lag behind with 17 per cent, while the Greens also saw a one per cent increase to 11 per cent. The Liberal Democrats lost one per cent, trailing behind at nine per cent.
The new poll backs a megapoll released on the same day that revealed a majority of the British public favoured a return to the European Union.
Rejoining was supported by 49 per cent of 11,461 people polled by the Messina Group, compared to the 28.5 per cent against, as reported in The Guardian.
The poll also revealed nearly half of UK adults (48 per cent) supported the idea of a National Care Service free at the point of use funded by taxes, with only 15 per cent opposed.
The proposal, which Mr Burnham unveiled at the conference, has net support among voters of all the major parties with a slight margin (+1) among Reform voters.
Some 40 per cent also support the proposed triple lock change, which Mr Burnham announced on Tuesday during his speech. A total of 23 per cent opposed, while 22 per cent neither supported nor opposed it. There are similar levels of support across all age groups, except among over 65s, where support drops to three in 10 (31 per cent), with 42 per cent opposed.
James Crouch, head of policy and public affairs at Opinium, said: “Andy Burnham clearly knows how to deliver a commanding conference speech, backed by major policy announcements, that dominates the political agenda.
“The question now is simple: can Kemi Badenoch seize the country’s attention next week in anything like the same way?”
Mr Burnham himself remains the only political leader with a net positive approval rating (+8), an increase of one point from last week.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski and Reform’s Nigel Farage remain the most unpopular leaders at -22 each, although Mr Polanski saw a two point increase and Farage an increase of three points over the last week.
Ed Davey’s approval rating dropped three points to net -6, while Kemi Badenoch retains a fairly stable -1 (up two points).
