Farage’s gains came largely at the expense of both major parties, with the Conservatives also losing over 400 seats.
Tony Travers, a professor of politics at London School of Economics, explained that “these are effectively midterms for the national government.”
“The Labour government has been in office for nearly two years now, and has suffered significantly from falls in its opinion poll ratings, both for the party and for its leader, Prime Minister Keir Starmer,” he told TIME.
Starmer’s Labour party has fallen significantly in national polls, with voting intention for Labour standing at just 18% nationally, second to Reform at 25%, according to YouGov.
Similarly, the approval rating of the British Prime Minister stands at 22% approval and 70% disapproval.
“Traditionally, the U.K., like the United States, had a two-party system, where the Conservatives and Labour dominated politics,” explains Travers. “In recent years, that domination has begun to fall away.”
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