A new study suggesting Reform UK voters are "more likely to be in poorer health" has been branded a "dog whistle to the Left".
Speaking to GB News, broadcaster Paul Cox dismissed the research and said "the majority of the population" will be voting for Reform at the next election.
Research by experts at Imperial College London has suggested that people with poorer health were more likely to back Nigel Farage's political party.
Collecting data from voting patterns in the 2024 General Election, the study found that Reform voters had a higher proportion of chronic conditions, including obesity and respiratory conditions.
Paul Cox has hit out at a new study suggesting that Reform UK voters are 'more likely to be in poorer health'
|PA / GB NEWS
Delivering his verdict on the data, host Patrick Christys told his GB News viewers: "We've been here before, haven't we?
"Where people like academics from Imperial College London did reports that basically said that Brexiteers were thick, and if you're really intellectual, you knew what was going on. You'd have voted for remain.
"And this is happening again, isn't it? It's that thing of like a ball and chain around Reform voters. 'Oh, you're fat, you've got dementia, you're an idiot'."
Agreeing with Patrick, Mr Cox fumed: "You're more likely to be more fat if you're working class and lower paid, it is statistically proven.
"This is kind of, I've never said this before, ever, but this is a dog whistle. This is a dog whistle to the Left."
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Research by experts at Imperial College London suggested that people in poorer health are more likely to vote for Reform UK
|PA
Highlighting the surging support for Reform UK amid Labour's diminishing popularity, Mr Cox added: "This is saying that poor people, by which they are using the pseudonym in this case as fat, are much more likely to vote Reform.
"The reason this statistic is so high is because as polls are showing, about 90 per cent of the population are going to vote Reform now."
Patrick interjected, stating: "Well, also we're being told that we're the fattest we've ever been, so at what point does it just become normal?
"Everybody's going to vote Reform, and everyone who's going to vote Reform are fatter."
The GB News panel criticised the study by Imperial College London
|GB NEWS
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Expressing her distaste with the study, broadcaster Suzy Stride told GB News that the research is "demeaning" to Britons.
She said: "I don't like this, I think things like that, it's just a bit demeaning, isn't it?
"The fact is, someone may want to vote Reform for a whole array of different reasons.
"And I don't like this thing of, 'oh, you know, it's poor people, unhealthy people'. I don't like it."
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