Low support for electoral pacts among Britons

• Britons are more likely to oppose than support electoral pacts between different parties on both sides of the political spectrum
• Whilst the public at large are more likely to oppose electoral pacts, supporters of the parties involved in the pacts are slightly more receptive (particularly for those between Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens). 

New polling from Ipsos for Sky News, conducted from 20–24 February, explores public attitudes towards the idea of electoral pacts between different political parties, alongside attitudes towards the main political parties and their leaders.
 

Electoral pacts
The survey asked whether people would support or oppose electoral pacts between different political parties, where parties agree that in each constituency only one of the parties in the pact would stand a candidate. Overall, Britons are more likely to oppose each of these pacts than support them, although individual supporters of each party are more receptive (more so among supporters of Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens than for Conservatives towards a Conservative/Reform pact):

• Conservatives and Reform UK pact: Overall 18% support, 48% oppose. Current Conservative and Reform UK supporters are split. 38% of Reform UK supporters back this pact (30% oppose), while 39% of Conservative supporters oppose the pact (31% support).
• Labour and Liberal Democrats pact: Overall 22% support, 39% oppose. Around half of current Labour (52%) and Liberal Democrat supporters (46%) back this pact. 20% of Labour supporters and 24% of Liberal Democrat supporters oppose the pact.
• Labour, Liberal Democrats and Green party pact: Overall 23% support, 38% oppose. 49% of Labour supporters back this pact (19% oppose), as do 44% of Green party supporters (25% oppose). Liberal Democrats are slightly more split - 40% support, 26% oppose.

Likelihood to vote for each main party
When asked how likely they are to consider voting for each main party at the next UK general election. Reform UK tops the list, with 32% saying they are likely to vote for them. However, just seven percentage points separate Reform UK from the Liberal Democrats—the party Britons are least likely to say they will vote for. 28% say they are likely to vote Labour, while 27% say either the Conservatives or the Greens.  Furthermore, the majority say they are unlikely to vote for any of the main parties -at least 60% for each.

Likeability of political parties and leaders
Britons are more likely to dislike each main party leader and party than like them, when asked to rate them on a scale of 0-10 (where 0 is strongly dislike and 10 is strongly like).

• Most liked party: Reform UK (18% score 8-10 and 30% 6-10) and the Green party (12% 8-10 and 28% 6-10)
• Most liked political leader: Nigel Farage (18% score 8-10 and 29% 6-10)
• Most disliked leaders: Nigel Farage (47% score 0-2 and 57% score 0-4) and Keir Starmer (46% score 0-2 and 60% score 0-4)
• Most disliked parties: Reform UK (46% score 0-2 and 56% 0-4), followed by Labour (43% score 0-2 and 57% 0-4) and the Conservatives (41% score 0-2 and 56% 0-4).

Technical note

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• Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 2,518 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Polling was conducted online between the 20-24 February 2026.  
• Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.