Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party leads general election poll for first time The Brexit Party could be on course to sweep more than 300 seats in Parliament

The Brexit Party is leading a Westminster opinion poll for the first time – as the major parties all lose supporters.

The Opinium poll for The Observer shows a significant fall in support for both Labour and the Conservatives, with voters moving to the Brexit Party, Liberal Democrats and Green Party.

The 31 May poll has the Brexit Party on 26 per cent of the vote, with Labour in second place on 22 per cent.

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Opinium/Observer – Brexit Party jumps into first place in Westminster voting intention:

Brexit Party: 26% (+2)

Labour: 22% (-7)

Conservatives: 17% (-5)

LibDems: 16% (+5)

Greens: 11% (+8)

SNP: 4% (nc)

Change UK: 1% (-2)

Plaid Cymru: 1% (+1)

UKIP: 1% (-1)

(28th to 30th May) — Opinium (@OpiniumResearch) June 1, 2019

The Conservatives are narrowly clinging onto third, with just 17 per cent of the vote, ahead of the Liberal Democrats on 16 per cent and Green Party on 11 per cent.

Short of a Commons majority

A projection by Electoral Calculus suggests the result would see the Brexit Party gain 306 seats in the House of Commons, ahead of Labour on 205, while the Conservatives would be nearly wiped out on just 26 seats.

If the result is reflected, the Brexit Party would be 20 seats short of an overall majority in the Commons, but could secure a majority via a coalition with the Conservatives.

Although the Brexit Party dominated the EU elections in May, previous polls did not reflect the support for elections to the UK Parliament.

The Brexit Party’s first major test in a Westminster election comes in the Peterborough by-election on Thursday, where Nigel Farage is hoping the party will pick up its first seat from Labour.

A separate YouGov poll on Friday also showed the Conservatives and Labour shedding support, placing the Liberal Democrats top on 24 per cent and Brexit Party second on 22 per cent

EU elections boost

Adam Drummond from Opinium told The Observer: “All of the big winners from the European elections have seen some sort of a boost, with the Brexit Party adding another two points to move into first place, while Labour have fallen back significantly.

“While the Lib Dems have experienced a boost, the under reported story from the elections and since then has been the Greens, who have gained eight points since our last poll.”

He added: “While the usual caveats should apply about how much to read into Westminster voting intention polls, given the proximity to the European elections, the fact is that we might be less than six months out from a general election so these might become relevant very quickly.”