Nigel Farage has hit the bullseye with Britain's darts fans

More than half of darts lovers plan to vote Reform UK, according to research into the political loyalties of sports fans. Fifty-one per cent of darts devotees intend to back Nigel Farage's party with just 14% planning to vote Labour or Conservative, a mere one in 10 expecting to support the Liberal Democrats and just 6% saying they will back the Greens.

Sir Keir Starmer can take some comfort that Labour was the top pick of people who say their favourite sport is Rugby League (33%) athletics (28%) and tennis (25%) - although in the latter two sports Labour was just a single point ahead of Reform.

When it came to the football fans, the research by More In Common found Reform is in top place (30%), ahead of Labour (28%), the Conservatives (18%), the Lib Dems (13%) and the Greens (6%).

The Conservatives had their best score among cricket fans (24%), but this was a second place finish with Reform enjoying 28% support.

Reform was also the most popular choice among people who said their favourite sport was motorsports (29%), boxing (33%), golf, (32%) or the Ultimate Fighting Championship (23%).

The Greens had their highest support among fans of this mixed martial arts competition, although they still finished fifth on 14%.

The findings are likely to encourage Sir Keir to continue to talk about his love for football to deepen his connection with fans.

Similarly, Rishi Sunak, Theresa May, and John Major were known for their love of cricket and the Tories may want to cultivate this core sporting constituency as the next election nears.

Among all likely voters, nearly one in three (32%) said they planned to vote Reform - more than for Labour (22%) the Conservatives (19%), the Lib Dems (14%) or the Greens (8%).

Chris Annous of More in Common, said: "Sport has long been one of the great unifiers. Whether it's backing the Three Lions and Lionesses to victory in football, celebrating Scotland's qualification for the men's World Cup finals in 2026, or victories over rivals in the Six Nations, Britons of all backgrounds enjoy coming together and getting behind their national teams.

"However, as Britain's political system has become more fragmented, this is increasingly generating stronger partisan differences in the attitudes of the fan bases of our different sports. Sports fans may be unlikely to take warmly to seeing politicians try and reach them through politicising their sports, but this research should help our politicians better understand their supporter bases amid the extreme political volatility Britain is experiencing."