How the UK’s Fragmented Politics Are Reshaping Policy Agenda

The Conservative-Labour duopoly that governed British politics for the past century appears locked in terminal decline. As a result, voters are no longer presented with a binary choice between opposing economic manifestos.

Polls have for months shown five parties attracting support from between 10% and 30% of voters. Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK has led opinion surveys for more than a year and betting markets favor him to enter Downing Street after the next general election, which must be held by 2029. Meanwhile, the Tories — the self-proclaimed natural party of government — and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour are competing for second place with the left-wing Greens.