The newly-formed Independent Group of MPs who split from Labour on Monday are already ahead of the Lib Dems in popularity, according to a Sky Data poll.

Having been unveiled in a press conference, 10% already say they would vote for them in a general election if they had a candidate in their constituency - ahead of the Liberal Democrats on 9% and UKIP on 6%.

The Conservatives are on 32%, with Labour on just 26%.

The vote for the Independent Group comes from a variety of sources - 37% of those who say they would vote for them now voted for Labour in 2017, 27% for the Conservatives, 24% from people who did not vote and 6% from the Liberal Democrats.

The group have not formally established themselves as a political party yet, but this could happen at some point in the not too distant future.


Following one of the Labour splitters - Luciana Berger - decrying antisemitism within Labour, more agree than disagree both that the party is institutionally antisemitic, and that leader Jeremy Corbyn is personally antisemitic.

One in three (34%) say Labour is institutionally antisemitic, with 23% saying the party is not and 43% unsure - and similarly 35% think Mr Corbyn himself is personally antisemitic, 24% think he is not and 41% answered "don't know".

This comes as both main parties are seen as divided and poorly-led by the vast majority of the public.

Seven in 10 think the Labour Party (69%) and the Conservative Party (69%) are divided, and identically just 15% think each are united.

The majority of Britons think Mr Corbyn would be a bad prime minister - 55% say bad, 22% good.

And remarkably, they also think Labour MPs agree with them - 53% think Mr Corbyn's own MPs think he would be a bad prime minister, just 22% think they think he would do a good job.

It's little better for Theresa May - 49% of the public think she is a bad prime minister, 37% a good one.

And again, more think her own MPs regard her as a bad prime minister (49%) than a good one (33%).

:: Sky Data interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,034 UK adults online on 19 February 2019. Data are weighted to the profile of the population. Sky Data is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

For full Sky Data tables, please click here.