𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Nigel Farage is now the most trusted leader when it comes to defending the nation. The latest polling will boot the morale of activists working to present Reform UK as a credible party of Government ahead of Thursday’s round of elections. The research by Ipsos will make equally troubling reading for the Greens with fewer than one in four Britons trusting leader Zack Polanski on this key issue.

Mr Farage was trusted a “great deal” or a “fair amount” by 32% of voters – more than was the case for the Conservatives’ Kemi Badenoch (30%), Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (29%), the Liberal Democrats’ Sir Ed Davey (25%) and Mr Polanski (23%).

Concern about national security has soared since the war in Iran with leading military and political figures making the case for urgent increases in defence spending.

When voters are asked whether they trust a party – as opposed to a leader – on defence, the Conservatives had a slight edge on 34%. This was ahead of Reform (32%), Labour (30%), the Lib Dems (29%) and the Greens (26%).

Keiran Pedley, director of politics at Ipsos, said that “worryingly” at least half of Britons say they “do not trust any UK political leader very much when it comes to these issues”.

Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge made the case that voters could put their faith in the Tories to keep the country safe, saying the party had a plan which would allow the UK to invest 3% of GDP on defence in the lifetime of this Parliament.

Arguing that measures including restoring the two-child benefit cap would unlock more than £20billion of extra spending, he said: “Conservatives are proud of what we did in Government to stand by Ukraine, and help keep that country in the fight, avoiding a military disaster for Europe that could ultimately have threatened our shores.”

But a Labour source said: “The Tories hollowed out our armed forces across their 14 years in power, leaving the Army at its smallest size since the Napoleonic era. Labour is restoring strength to Britain’s armed forces with the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, investing £270billion this Parliament and boosting funding by £5billion this year alone.”

Reform UK’s Danny Kruger said: “After decades of chronic underinvestment in our armed forces by successive governments, it is no surprise that voters no longer trust the Conservatives or Labour and have chosen Nigel Farage as the most trusted party leader on defence. A Reform UK Government will finally put the defence of this country first.

“We will significantly increase defence expenditure by cutting the ballooning benefits bill and ensure our brave armed forces are finally well-equipped and properly funded.”

The Greens were invited to comment.