Poll: Do members back coalition or ruling alone if we fail to keep our majority?

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With Labour trailing in the polls behind Reform, many activists are starting to fear the party could struggle to win another majority at the next election.

Other options lie open to Labour if it remains the largest party, including forming a coalition government with another party, governing alone, or seeking informal support from smaller parties.

Our recent poll in partnership with Survation asked members for their preferences. Some 41% of those who responded said their choice would be for Labour to seek informal support from smaller parties, rather than a formal coalition.

Some 35% said they would prefer Labour to form a coalition with the Lib Dems, and another 11% said they would want Labour to govern alone in a minority government.

READ MORE: Rayner and Burnham most popular with Labour members of opposite sex

The least popular of our four options was for Labour to form a coalition with the SNP, receiving just 5% of the vote.

How Labour can win the next election while trailing in the polls is a concern shared by party officials.

An internal report, seen by LabourList, recently warned that the party’s 2024 election strategy “won’t win next time”. The report seen by LabourList said the party would have to “continue to innovate in every area” in response to the growing use of social media in campaigning and an increasingly diverse media landscape.

It states: “The nature of politics and campaigning has changed and continues to change, with a digital arms race between parties and an increasingly fragmented media landscape making it more difficult and resource intensive to reach voters.

“The 2024 election strategy will not win next time, and the Labour Party must continue to innovate in every area.”

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The poll is the latest in a series of regular polls LabourList is publishing in partnership with leading pollsters Survation, a member of the British Polling Council and a Market Research Society Partner.

Survation surveyed 1,304 LabourList readers who also said they were Labour Party members between May 30 and June 1.

Data was weighted to the profile of party members by age, sex, region and 2020 Labour leadership vote, targets for which were derived from the British Election Study and the results of the 2020 leadership election.


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