Exclusive poll: ‘None of the above' most popular leader choice with voters
An exclusive poll for tonight's Channel 4 News special 'Election 2025: The Debate' has revealed none of the major political party leaders has the confidence of the majority of voters in this week's local elections.
The poll also shows Labour with 18% are behind Reform (26%) and the Conservatives (25%) when it comes to voting intention in the areas where elections are taking place.
'Most effective' leader
Ahead of Thursday's local elections, polling company More In Common asked voters who they thought would be most effective in governing the country – 41% responded: 'None of the above'.
The second most popular choice was Reform's Nigel Farage with 23%, followed by the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, with 19%, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch with 8%, the Lib-Dem's Ed Davey on 6% and the Green's co-leaders, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, coming last with 2%.
The full results of the poll will be revealed tonight on Channel 4 News at 7.00pm in the live special, 'Election 2025: The Debate'.
The programme is being presented from Hull by Krishnan Guru-Murthy with a panel featuring: Environment Secretary Steve Reed MP for Labour; Conservative Kevin Hollinrake MP, Shadow Secretary for Levelling Up, Communities and Local Government; Alex Wilson AM, London Assembly, Reform UK; Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper MP, and the Green's Co-Leader, Adrian Ramsay MP.
Local elections voting
The poll also asked who they intended to vote in the local elections: 26% said Reform, 25% responded Conservative, 18% answered Labour, 17% replied Liberal Democrats, with the Greens getting support from 8% of respondents while 6% said 'Other'.
Asked which party they trusted to resolve council finance issues – 43% responded 'None of the above', followed by Reform on 19%, the Conservative's on 14%, Labour on 12%, Liberal Democrats with 8% and the Green Party on 4%.
When asked what local issues mattered most to them, the voters responded:
Potholes/quality of roads – 50%
Council Tax – 29%
Affordable Housing – 24%
Quality of local high street – 22%
Antisocial behaviour and crime – 18%
Public transport issues – 15%
Cutting wasteful spending – 14%
Parking issues – 13%
Social care – 12%
Fly tipping – 10%
Homelessness and rough sleeping – 9%
Planning Issues – 8%
Local environment and nature – 8%
Quality of social housing – 5%
Bin collection/waste disposal – 5%
Local business rates – 5%
Graffiti and vandalism – 4%
Low traffic neighbourhoods – 2%
Ultra Low Emissions or Clean Air Zone – 1%
Reasons for voting choice
When asked why they planned to vote for a particular party, those intending to vote Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour all highlighted, 'This party will be most competent at running the council' as the most important issue (Conservative – 47%, Liberal Democrats – 46%, Labour – 44%).
Among those intending to vote Reform the most important issue was 'National policies on immigration', with 67% highlighting this as their main reason for supporting the party.
More In Common Executive Director UK, Luke Tryl, said of the poll results:
'The public mood going into these elections is one of deep disillusionment, voters are impatient for change but aren't confident any party can deliver it. As results trickle in on Friday this polling suggests we will see that the fragmentation of the electorate in last year's General Election has only accelerated since then.
'For many their vote on Thursday will be an expression of deep frustration with the status quo. Nigel Farage's Reform UK look set to be the big winners of the night, leading in our polling, while the Conservatives on these numbers would lose scores of seats in elections being contested on normally solid turf – both to Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats.'
*More in Common polled 1,780 voters between April 17 – 24 in areas voting in local election this year. Voters only included if they gave their likelihood of voting at 9 or above out of ten, and said they tend to vote in most or all local election in their area.'
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