Nigel Farage is on the cusp of becoming an MP at the eighth attempt after a new poll gave the Reform leader a huge lead in the constituency he is contesting.

Mr Farage is on course to win 42 per cent of the vote in Clacton, with a swing away from the Tories that pollsters Survation said was ‘unprecedented in modern electoral history’.

He outstrips Giles Watling (27 per cent), the current Tory incumbent, and Labour (24 per cent) in a poll commissioned by his ally, the former Ukip donor Arron Banks.

The figures, if close to what plays out on July 4, will send shivers down the spine of the Tories and boost Mr Farage’s bid to be a major player in the next Parliament.

It echoes a previous survey by Ipsos which suggested Mr Farage could win 53 per cent of the vote, with the Tories a distant third on 17 per cent.  

But it is not all good news for Reform. Separate polls by YouGov show that 55 per cent of voters believe Mr Farage would make a bad prime minister.

And in head-to-head contests to determine who voters think would make a better PM, he loses to all other main party leaders, including Lib Dem boss Ed Davey. 

Mr Farage is on course to win 42 per cent of the vote in Clacton, with a swing away from the Tories that pollsters Survation said was ‘unprecedented in modern electoral history’.

It came as Rishi Sunak hit back at billionaires abandoning the Tories by saying they ‘can afford Labour’s tax rises’ and refused to rule out working with Nigel Farage after the election.

Half of 2019 Conservative voters told Survation they will vote for the Reform Party leader, versus just 38 per cent who will stay loyal and vote for Mr Watling. 

One in ten former Tory voters will vote for the Labour candidate Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, while Mr Farage is also attracting support from 10 per cent of 2019 Labour voters.

It came as Rishi Sunak hit back at billionaires abandoning the Tories by saying they ‘can afford Labour’s tax rises’ and refused to rule out working with Nigel Farage after the election.

In a bruising LBC radio phone-in, the Prime Minister was accused by callers of being a ‘poundshop Nigel Farage’ over his behaviour towards the trans community, and being too rich to relate to food bank users.

He was asked about John Caudwell, Phones4U founder and a former major Tory donor, and Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe throwing their weight behind Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

Mr Sunak replied: ‘They’re two of Britain’s richest men. They can probably afford Labour’s tax rises.’

The Conservatives are seeking to use tax as a key dividing issue and are stepping up attacks on Labour’s plans in a desperate bid to shift their stubborn double-digit poll deficit.

Sir Keir Starmer criticised Mr Sunak for ‘talking nonsense’, telling reporters during a campaign visit to Wiltshire that the Prime Minister ‘should stop lecturing anybody else about the economy’.

He said Mr Caudwell’s change in support, ‘because he thinks we’re the party of growth and wealth creation’, is a ‘serious’ move.