The British Polling Council has said "it is clear there have been breaches" of its rules by JL Partners, the pollster linked to Reform UK through a Channel 4 News undercover investigation. James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners, appeared to confirm during covert filming that he did not follow transparency rules over who commissioned polling that showed Reform performing strongly.

The BPC said its rules demand that all social or political polls "must include reference to the client commissioning the survey." It added: "It is clear there have been breaches of British Polling Council Rule 2.1. According to the [Channel 4 News] programme, this may have been deliberate." JL Partners acknowledged "weaknesses in our procedures" and said it was reviewing them.

Other pollsters privately expressed shock. One industry figure called it "a wake-up call" and warned: "We don't want to turn into the US, where there's the madness of made-up polls." The comments followed recent fabricated US polls cited by politicians, including a scheme called "Median Strategies."

Another insider accused Johnson of "singing from a client's hymn sheet," citing a Telegraph opinion piece on assisted dying funded by the Christian lobbying group CARE, which he did not disclose. Johnson previously served as Theresa May's senior opinion research adviser in Downing Street.