A third of Reform UK voters think the party would be doing better if it were not led by Nigel Farage, a new poll has found.

It come after a dramatic split in Reform UK over the last week, with MP Rupert Lowe being kicked out of the party and reported to the police a day after accusing Farage of acting like “the Messiah”.

A YouGov survey conducted on Sunday and Monday found 21% of Reform UK’s voters believe the party would be doing “a lot better” without Farage, and a further 12% think it would be doing a “little better”.

Roughly the same amount, 34%, think Reform UK would be doing worse without Farage though, and 25% think a different leader would not impact the party’s fortunes at all.

According to the latest YouGov/Times voting intention survey, Reform UK is running virtually neck-and-neck with Labour and the Tories.

The results come amid the ongoing civil war that has engulfed the party in recent days.

Lowe – whom tech magnate Elon Musk previously claimed should be leading the party – questioned Farage’s leadership, calling Reform UK a “protest party led by the Messiah” on Thursday.

The following day, Lowe was suspended from the party and reported to the police over allegations of workplace bullying and making physical threats.

He has robustly denied such claims, saying it’s part of a “political witch hunt”.

Lowe’s seven-strong parliamentary team has since come out in support of him, saying: “Rupert is a good, decent and honest man.”

In a statement last Friday, Reform UK said: “Evidence was provided to us of workplace bullying, the targeting of female staff who raised concerns, and evidence of derogatory and discriminatory remarks made about women, including reference to a perceived disability.

“We feel we have a duty of care to all our staff, whether employed directly or indirectly. Accordingly, we appointed an independent King’s Counsel to conduct an investigation into the veracity of these complaints. To date, Mr Lowe has yet to cooperate with this investigation.”

The Met Police has since launched an investigation into claims Lowe made “verbal threats” against Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf.