Both Labour and the Conservatives have ‘heavy reputational damage’ and are struggling for votes

With UK local elections days away, Opinium’s latest poll reveals that both Labour and the Conservatives are struggling for votes.

The largest proportion of those in constituencies with local elections currently considering voting for their local Reform Party.

Approximately a fifth of the country are holding local elections this year. In the areas voting in local elections this year, more than one in five (22%) are currently considering voting for their local Reform Party.

However, just 16% are currently considering voting for their local Conservative Party, and 14% for their Labour Party.

A further 13% are considering casting their vote for the local Green Party and 11% for the local Liberal Democrats Party.

Looking at key local issues, there remains huge scope for other political parties to gain ground, with neither the local Conservative Party or the local Labour Party most trusted on any of these matters among the public.

Labour remains significantly less popular than during the General Election campaign and now has a net score of -27 on having “similar views to my own” (-27, down 4 points since February).

While the Conservatives have made some improvements since the General Election and have edged up since February, the party continues to have a worse reputation than Labour.

Kemi Badenoch has gone some way to improve the unity of the Conservative Party, giving a net score of -25 on being “united” (up 5 points since February, and 23 points during the general election campaign).  Yet, despite these improvements, Labour continues to be seen as more united (net -16).

Opinium’s poll found that, this week, Keir Starmer’s approval shows another small dip from -30% to -33%, down 3 points. By comparison, Kemi Badenoch has seen an improvement of 2 points from -21% to -19%.

When it comes to who would make the best Prime Minister, Starmer has also seen a slight deterioration since a fortnight ago, with 25% of the public picking him (-3). However, he is still ahead of Badenoch who has 14% (+1), but 45% (+2) pick “none of these.”

James Crouch, head of public affairs and policy at Opinium, said: “We’re heading into a highly unpredictable set of local elections, with both Labour and Conservative councillors representing parties with heavy reputational damage.

“With hardly any local issues where the major parties can easily rally voters, this opens the door for Reform to make significant gains on Thursday 1 May.”