Nigel Farage issued warning he could lose out on 60 seats at next election

Anti-Reform tactical voting could cost Nigel Farage more than 60 seats at the next general election, according to new research. The study by Electoral Calculus found that such a scenario would see Reform UK lose out on 67 constituencies and a majority.

But Reform, which is consistently leading national opinion polls, would still be the largest party at the next election. The report found that most left-wing voters whose first preference is not Labour would be prepared to back Sir Keir Starmer's party to keep the Reform UK leader out of No 10, while more than a third of Labour supporters would be prepared to switch to the Tories.

Martin Baxter, the founder and chief executive of Electoral Calculus, said the figures show that there are a "significant number of voters ready to vote tactically to keep Reform out".

He told The Times: "This could deprive Reform of an outright majority if there were an election and force Nigel Farage into a coalition with the Conservatives.

"Many Labour, Lib Dem and Green supporters would vote Conservative in Conservative-Reform seats to stymie Reform UK.

"Expect to see slogans like 'Only Labour can stop Reform' widely used at the next general election, as Labour tries to consolidate the centre-left vote behind their own candidates.

"But the overall fragmentation of the left, compounded by the new 'Your Party', is still a big handicap for Labour."

Mr Baxter said that tactical voting "makes things harder for Reform, as so many voters are strongly opposed to them".

He added: "Farage's party are still leading in the polls, and still on course to be the largest party. Though it's unclear if they can keep up that momentum all the way to the next election."

Electoral Calculus compared the number of projected seats if people backed their preferred party with the number if tactical voting were taken into account.

It found that Sir Keir Starmer's party would gain 42 seats, while the Tories would also be up 29.

The Lib Dems would see their total rise from 64 to 67, while the Greens and Plaid Cymru would stick with four and five respectively and the SHP would drop from 32 to 25.

The research is based on data from a survey of 10,900 adults by Find Out Now.