Reform UK is now the most popular political party in Britain among gay and bisexual men, according to new polling.

New figures from More in Common found that 25% of gay and bisexual men across all age groups back Nigel Farage’s party. That puts Reform six points ahead of the next most popular option, Zack Polanski’s Greens, and seven points ahead of the Labour Party. The pollster also places Reform on 30% of the vote nationally, giving it a 10-point lead over both Labour and the Conservative Party.

The polling by sexuality, carried out at the end of last year but published this week, surveyed almost 9,000 adults across England, Wales and Scotland. As well as its support among gay and bisexual men, Reform is also by far the most popular party among heterosexual males. Of this group, 33% back Farage’s party — 11 points ahead of Labour and 26 ahead of the Greens.

Strikingly, Reform is the most popular choice among heterosexual women, of whom 29% intend to vote for the party. The nearest competitor within this demographic group is the Tories on 23%. Labour’s vote share among straight women is just 18%, a notable change from the 2024 general election when it was comfortably the most popular party among all female voters. According to the new More in Common figures, the one group that largely opposes Reform is gay and bisexual women: only 12% plan to support the party, compared with 37% who back the Greens.

Turnout patterns also appear to favour Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. The groups most inclined to back the party are also among the most likely to vote. Polling by More in Common shows that 59% of gay and bisexual men say they are “certain to vote” at the next general election, compared with 53% of straight men and 50% of heterosexual women. Among gay and bisexual women, however, the figure drops to 46%.

A similar gap appears at the other end of the scale: just 9% of gay and bisexual men say they are “certain not to vote”, compared with 15% of gay and bisexual women.

Farage has argued in the past that “the most stable relationships tend to be between men and women.” The comment was made last year in a press conference unveiling East Wiltshire Danny Kruger as a defector from the Conservative Party. Kruger, a practising Christian, had previously stated that heterosexual marriage was “the only basis for a safe and successful society”. Last year, the Reform leader told LBC he thought it was “wrong” for the Tories to introduce same-sex marriage under David Cameron “without even putting it in a manifesto”.

In February of this year, screenwriter Russell T. Davies claimed that the rise of Farage’s party was a major reason why gay rights “are rapidly and urgently getting worse” in Britain. He added that “we, the gay community, queer community, should be revolting in terror and anger” against Reform. Shortly afterwards, Darren Grimes — who, as well as being the party’s deputy leader for Durham County Council, is gay — disagreed with this assessment during an appearance on GB News. “Reform UK has more gays in it than Heaven nightclub in London,” he insisted.

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is UnHerd’s Deputy Editor, Newsroom.

RobLownie

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