Opinion towards Labour is at its most favourable since autumn 2024, while Reform UK and the Greens record their lowest ratings to date

Key takeaways

  • Net favourability in Labour has risen over the last month from -35 to -25, its highest level since November 2024
  • 30% of Britons have a favourable opinion of the Conservatives, the highest level since October 2021
  • Opinion towards Reform UK and the Greens have fallen to their lowest levels to date, with net ratings of -38 and -23 respectively
  • 56% of Britons say they would not like Reform UK to form part of a future government, compared to 36-37% saying so of the Conservatives, Labour and the Greens

One of Andy Burnham’s key challenges when he took over as Labour leader was to turn around the increasingly negative opinion the public had of the Labour party: last December, 71% of Britons said they had an unfavourable view of the party, relative to no more than 63% at any point during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

While it’s still early days, new YouGov data suggests that public attitudes to Labour are already improving. In our latest voting intention poll, the party are up six points on their mid-May nadir of 16% of the vote, while our separate willingness to consider voting Labour tracker shows that openness to backing the party is at its highest level since September 2024.

Labour Party favourability ratings, July 2026

This picture is reaffirmed by new data from our party favourability tracker. A third of Britons (34%) now have a positive opinion of the Labour party, up six points since the end of June and the highest level recorded by our tracker since August 2024, shortly after the party took power.

Nonetheless, six in ten Britons (59%) still see Labour unfavourably, even if this is down four points over the last month and down twelve points from their December nadir. Additionally, while this latest net favourability rating of -25 might be the highest they’ve recorded in nearly two years, it is still significantly below the -7 rating Labour held ahead of the 2024 general election and is instead closer to the -32 score recorded ahead of the 2019 election.

The recent upturn in opinion has been across the board. Relative to the party’s low point last December, Labour’s net favourability rating among 2024 Conservative and Reform UK voters has risen 15-17 points, even if it is still predominantly negative, while the increase is an even greater 32-35 points among those who voted Labour, Lib Dem or Green at the last election.

This includes 2024 Labour voters now seeing their former party favourably by 67% to 30%, having been divided 48% to 46% on their previous choice at the end of last year.

Conservative Party favourability ratings, July 2026

Also improving in recent months, even if more steadily, has been opinion towards the Conservatives, with 30% of Britons now having a favourable opinion of Kemi Badenoch’s party, the highest level since October 2021, prior to the revelations surrounding Partygate.

Unfavourable opinions towards the party are a little more stubborn, with 63% of the public seeing the Tories in a negative light, relative to 58% in October 2021. Nonetheless, this is down twelve points on the 75% peak in dislike towards the party on the eve of the 2024 general election.

Political party favourability ratings, July 2026

Although the traditional major parties might be on the up, the same cannot be said of their newer populist challengers.

Just 27% of Britons have a favourable opinion of Reform UK in our latest figures, the lowest level since December 2024 and down eight points from their peak last May, while a full 65% now see Nigel Farage’s party unfavourably, the highest level recorded by our tracker for the right-wing populist party so far. This includes more than half of Britons (55%) seeing Reform UK very unfavourably.

Altogether, this amounts to a net favourability rating of -38 for Reform UK, which is a new low for the party in our data on this question.

Central to this fall in Reform UK’s ratings are 2024 Conservative voters. As recently as last December, a majority (52%) held a favourable opinion of Nigel Farage’s party, a figure which has since fallen to 36%, relative to 56% now seeing the party negatively.

The fall in attitudes to the Greens is even sharper. Last August, prior to Zack Polanski’s election as party leader, 44% of Britons saw the party favourably and 39% viewed the environmentalists negatively, leaving them as the most positively viewed party in Britain.

Today, though, just a third of the public (33%) have a favourable opinion of the Greens, while a clear majority (56%) see Polanski’s party unfavourably, leaving the party with a net score of -23, down seven points on last month and, as with Reform UK, their lowest to date.

Additionally, this means the Lib Dems can now claim the title of least unfavourably viewed party, with a latest net rating of -13, even if this does include half of Britons (49%) holding an unfavourable opinion of Ed Davey’s party, the joint highest such score since the 2024 general election.

Since Zack Polanski has become leader, the Greens’ net rating among 2024 Lib Dem voters has fallen 59 points from +40 to -19. This is alongside a 31 point fall among 2024 Labour voters (to +8) and a 23 point fall among those who had backed the Greens under the previous leadership (to +63), with 18% of 2024 Greens now having an unfavourable opinion of the party.

See the full results here

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