Support for Reform has slumped to its lowest level in eight months in the latest poll suggesting Nigel Farage‘s party could be stuck in a rut with voters.

Reform is on 24 per cent, down two points in a week and four points ahead of the resurgent Conservatives (+2), a survey by YouGov revealed today.

Labour has also clawed back ground on Mr Farage’s party after a torrid few months for the government, up a point on 19 per cent.

It suggests that Reform needs to re-up its game to win over voters after a stratospheric 2025.

A separate poll yesterday showed that Mr Farage losing to both Sir Keir Starmer and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch in a head-to-head to determine who would be the better prime minister.

The poll was carried out at the weekend, before Mr Farage yesterday unveiled Reform’s latest Tory defector, former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi. 

Today The Conservatives will step up attempts to put green grass between them and Reform by attacking Nigel Farage on the economy.

Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride will tell a conference that a Tory government would protect the UK’s budget watchdog, which Reform has pledged to scrap.

Sir Mel will accuse the Reform leader of seeking to ‘play fast and loose with the public finances’ as he defends the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) as key in preventing chancellors ‘from marking their own homework’.

Mr Farage earlier this month said he was giving ‘serious thought’ to axing what he called ‘a Blairite-style quango’ that is ‘dictating policy to elected politicians’.

But Sir Mel will use a speech at the Institute for Government think tank on Tuesday to stress the Conservatives’ commitment to safeguarding the independent forecaster.

The shadow chancellor is expected to say: ‘The OBR has become a vital part of our fiscal framework.

‘It prevents chancellors from marking their own homework.

‘But their role has been questioned in some quarters.

‘It is not hard to see why a politician like Nigel Farage might want to get rid of the OBR when he fought the last election on a manifesto which made £140 billion of fantasy unfunded commitments.

‘Funnily enough, it is usually those who want to play fast and loose with the public finances who seem to have a problem with the OBR.’

The OBR has come under pressure since the inadvertent early release of its assessment of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ November budget.

Richard Hughes, who resigned as OBR chairman in December following the leak, is set to face the Lords Economic Affairs Committee on Tuesday.