Areas receiving levelling-up funds show smaller Reform UK vote share, study finds

Nigel Farage speaking at a local election campaign launch. The study found that a large white population alone was not the main predictor of support for Reform UK. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Areas that received money from the last government’s much-criticised levelling up fund tended to have lower votes for Reform UK in the general election, a study has found, indicating that projects delivering quick results may hold back support for populism.

The study by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) thinktank, billed as the first to examine a mass of data factors linked to support for Reform at the level of individual seats, identified a series of factors likely to make voters more likely to back Nigel Farage’s party.