The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK, formerly named Brexit Party, until 6 March 2021. Keir Starmer. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. The more he engages with people from the City, the more he feels comfortable with the vocabulary and the issues, a department head at an investment bank said. Only England and Wales jurisdiction apply in all legal matters. These signs of change should be watched seriously, because the Tory party has history as an election winner. First poll of 2023 shows Rishi Sunak favourability at -29 . Starmers Labour increasingly looks like a pale replica of the modern Conservative Party, which publicly extols the virtues of unfettered markets while privately skewing the economic battle-space in big businesss favour - a covert socialism, but for the rich only. "Any opposition would be struggling against a government riding the success of the vaccine rollout and the last time the government's approval figures for the pandemic were this positive the Conservatives held a 17 point lead. Politics. Lucy Powell described partygate investigator Sue Gray - who plans to join Labour as Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff - as "impartial" and "really good at her job". A return to power-sharing at Stormont, with the DUP playing second fiddle to Sinn Fin, is a long way off. Labour extended its lead nationally to 27%, the widest margin it has held since Sunak became PM in October, while also opening up a lead of 28% in the Red Wall (another record lead with Sunak as Prime Minister). The ex-PM said during his think tanks Future of Britain conference last year that he wants to help influence the policy agenda in Westminster over the next decade. It is, admittedly, early days for such speculation. 61 per cent want 'completely new type of political . Despite the prime ministers problems, from the fall of Kabul to the defence of Owen Paterson, the myth of his personal invincibility seemed to persist. The battered economy, on which Starmer focused almost all his questions to Sunak in the Commons yesterday, remains far and away the central battleground of electoral politics for the foreseeable future. This is especially true for Labour voters, more than half of whom blame Truss (44%) or Sunak (10%) for the current crisis while only 11% blame global events. However, while Labour has an overwhelming lead on every major poll as a party, the popularity battle between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer is far tighter. The politicians listed below include: The following polls have asked people which leader they think would better handle the COVID-19 pandemic. The Labour leader said he is glad the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is taking time to consider . Johnsons poor approval ratings have improved slightly at -27, compared with -30 two weeks ago. Not only is Labour considered a strong favorite to win the next election, but the moderate Labour right faction is now in firm control of the party an unthinkable position just a few years ago when the Corbynite left looked unassailable. Robert Struthers of BMG told i: Keir Starmer will have been hoping for a polling bounce following his big announcement on freezing energy bills to tackle the energy crisis at the beginning of this week. His team say Starmers main task has been repairing the partys internal workings after the strife during Jeremy Corbyns leadership. 2. The rail strikes are the biggest in decades. LONDON Keir Starmer wants big business to "mold" Labour's election plans and get its "fingerprints" on his policy agenda. Rishi Sunak is shaping up to be a prime minister Keir Starmer should be wary of,Sunak's handling of the NI protocol suggests a leader - and a Tory party - with more left in the tank than some think, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle Starmer has ensured that the two dominant parties in Britain, like those in the United States, are both unapologetically of capital. The Labour leaders raft of broken promises on key issues likely to be close to the hearts of voters as their living standards collapse risks casting him as unreliable and untrustworthy. These could include a comparison of leading politicians within the same party (to gauge support for future leadership contests), or compare the current leader of one party to an alternative leader of a second. That has included reneging on his commitment to take back into public ownership key utilities, including gas and electricity. . Nevertheless, this week highlighted some early if incomplete signs that Sunak is starting to change the Tory party. . It includes a job ad for a celebrities and endorsement manager.. All rights reserved. Estimated Reading Time: 3-5 minutes. Blairs most important fundraiser during his premiership Michael Levy once referred to as Lord Cashpoint also has a role in tapping up wealthy donors. But its all part of a major play by the opposition to woo firms, while key moneymen from the Blair era are being tasked up with filling the partys coffers once again. Government approval on all three issues has risen in the Red Wall, recovering from a particularly bad poll in late January to now stand at -27% on the economy (+14), -41% on the NHS (+13), and -40% on immigration (+7). These polls asked the opinions of British voters, not specifically Scottish voters. One month ago he was on -3 in the equivalent BMG poll and in June the number of people who were satisfied was the same as those dissatisfied. . That view is backed by Labours left-wing Momentum faction, which is preparing a showdown with Starmer at the party conference. It was the last bit that was telling, implying that there was no one around him who was prepared to bring him bad news honest feedback being a basic requirement of any functioning organisation, as Starmer would have known from running the Crown Prosecution Service. February was another good month of polling for the Labour Party and Keir Starmer, who ended January holding a 21% lead over the Conservatives. The Labour leader has made a dirty word of socialism and shown that his own word counts for nothing. . The king played his symbolic role. The health service has been on its knees. What it shows is that these guys think Keir is going to win. Plaid Cymru call on Mark Drakeford to sack health minister after damning health board report, Sir Keir Starmer defends appointing partygate investigator Sue Gray as chief of staff, Johnson allies claim partygate was 'a Labour stitch up' after Starmer appoints Sue Gray to top role. Posts; Latest Activity; Photos . Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party is out of touch with public opinion, poll has found. So will his left-wing opponents, and mainstream MPs who . X. The damage done by the polarisation, recklessness, venality and destructiveness of the May-Johnson-Truss years casts long shadows that will shape the politics of this decade. If Blairites are now on the rise once again in the Labour Party, what about the man himself? New polling, conducted by Ipsos between 3rd-5th February, shows the public are more likely to apply several leadership traits to Keir Starmer than Rishi Sunak. But that was before the UK's tremendously successful COVID-19 vaccination programme got under way in December, something that seems to have been among the reasons for Mr Johnson's popularity. Asked if they wanted their home to remain British, Falkland Islanders said Yes by 99.8 per cent . Each pollster uses the following wording for this question: Some pollsters conduct surveys to compare figures who are not both party leaders. A YouGov poll carried out this week showed 45% of the public were against the RMT strike, with 37% in favour. Hence some of the changes to the leaders office which he has made since then. But dont underestimate this prime minister, either. The 1997 quip by Mandelson that he was intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich as long as they pay their taxes became something of guiding principle for the last Labour governments fundraising efforts. He has banned Labours front bench from joining picket lines, an edict that has been defied by several of them and looked all the more risible as even barristers have begun taking industrial action. Labour leader Keir Starmer addresses the annual Labour Party conference in Brighton, England, on 9 September 2021 (AFP) Keir Starmer's wait-it-out approach may finally be . These include the new constituency boundaries on which the next election will be fought, the reduction in the number of seats from Wales and Scotland, and the fact that the Tories need a smaller lead than Labour in the overall national vote to be the largest party at Westminster or to have an overall majority. Explore the live extension of our journalism, The wonk's survival guide to the EU Green Deal, Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize winner sentenced to 10 years in jail, Turkeys opposition splits over candidate to fight Erdoan, Germany to Switzerland: We want your tanks, Calculated evil: How Putins forces use war crimes and torture to erase Ukrainian identity, Let us film MPs as they vote, says outgoing Sky News chief, WhatsApp panic stalks Westminster after mass leak of private messages, Why always Matt? The survey by GB News, sees Labour on 47% of the national vote, the Conservative Party on 21%, the Liberal Democrats on 10%, the Greens on 7% and Reform on 6%. February was another good month of polling for the Labour Party and Keir Starmer, who ended January holding a 21% lead over the Conservatives. These are people that dont have to be spending their time and money doing this, a Labour shadow Cabinet minister said. People can see Starmer as a prime minister, and a reputation for competence is a priceless asset: those two things mean that Labours forward march has resumed. The poll also found voters backing Keir Starmer over Rishi Sunak. March 2, 2023. in News. neutral role in the civil service would come at a time when Labour holds a strong lead over the ruling Conservatives in opinion polls and as Starmer sets out his vision and policy priorities for Britain ahead of a . Starmer turned in some more relaxed performances at Prime Ministers Questions, starting to look more confident and suggesting that he had finally got the measure of Johnson. A by-election caused by Ms Cooper's decision would be the first major electoral test for Liz Truss since she entered No10. Date(s) Sunaks challenge will be to convince the country that its current problems lie more with global events than his own party, but that will be very, very hard given how strongly people feel about this. A government of which he was part had created the whole problem in the first place, of course, and one should never tire of saying so. Second, it confirmed that he may be starting to steer the Tory party towards a more moderate and pragmatic place. Copyright 2014 - 2023. Instead, she has frozen record high fuel bills, but it is taxpayers, not business, who will face the burden of repaying the 150bn ($170bn) costs further down the road. Page of 216. and already Sunak seems to be making inroads into the Labour opinion poll lead, perhaps due to positive coverage of his NI Protocol efforts. Voices Keir Starmer can afford to be polite to Liz Truss for one key reason - he knows he is winning. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. The Lib Dems are on 13% with the Greens on 6%. Commenting on the poll, a nationally representative survey of British adults by British Polling Council (BPC) member People Polling, Professor Matt Goodwin said: Both these numbers and the polls more broadly suggest that the Conservative Partys limited recovery that has been visible in the polls in recent weeks may have stalled. Data are weighted. His decision to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos last month and his comments that he prefers the gathering to Westminster also reveal how comfortable Starmer is schmoozing with the global elite. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Sin Berry and Jonathan Bartley, co-leaders of the Green Party from 4 September 2018 to 31 July 2021. Log in to access content and manage your profile. But Starmers success - assuming it can be maintained - has come at an extraordinarily high political price. Boris Johnson makes a better prime minister than Keir Starmer would despite Partygate, the cost of living crisis and the confidence vote in Johnson held by his MPs, according to the latest Observer poll.. Yet Keir Starmer's 'mission statement' last week managed something that nearly all speeches from those in his job - including most of his own - fail to achieve: broadly favourable and widespread coverage of his core message that Labour is a government . Starmer holds an approval rating of -6, unchanged from two weeks ago. Approval for the government's handling of the pandemic is at its highest since mid-April last year, with 47% of adults happy and 33% disapproving. For one thing, the protocol deal may stumble. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Either way, were these numbers replicated at a general election you would be looking at a solid Labour majority of 240-260 and only around 100 Conservative MPs in the Commons. But other Starmer allies dismissed the findings, claiming it was difficult to draw . As popular anger mounts, Starmers lack of vision for a sustainable future risks plunging parliamentary politics into even deeper crisis. For Keir Starmer, things look much rosier. While those on the Corbynite left consider the cash drive morally suspect, the right of the party asserts its the sign of a leader prepared for power. This was a fall of six points, while Mr Johnson saw his popularity climb by eight points to 40%. R&WS Research Team. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition since April 2020. In an interview with the New Statesman last month, Tarry offered a damning assessment of the Labour leader, accusing him of tearing the party apart to erase any trace of Corbynism, despite his predecessor taking the party in 2017 to within an inch of an election victory. None of this means Sunak is suddenly the effective and successful leader that the Tory party has lacked for so long. Energy prices have begun to ease. Filter. Instead, unlike Liz Truss, he prioritised the things where he could begin to shift the dial and build some political capital. The opinion polls have turned in the Labour leader's favour - vindicating his 'strategic patience'. March 2, 2023 10:16 am CET. Amid all that, Sunak didnt cower in the bunker. Sunak also gets to choose the election date. For many, he is also indelibly linked to other New Labour cash scandals, including a rowover a watered-down advertising banfor Formula 1 just after F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone gave millions to the party. If you do not have an account you can register here. But the work that Keir has been doing to reform the party, often without fanfare, means that we can seriously talk about winning the next election. The poll, based on the responses of 2,004 adults in the UK, also showed: Sir Keir Starmer slumps 17 points behind PM in new poll - and a third of Labour voters want him to quit, Sir Keir Starmer is lagging well behind Boris Johnson in a new opinion poll, Starmer 'up to it' as Labour leader - Miliband, Starmer 'trying to move party forward' - Brown, 'Labour Party has to do some soul searching', 33% of Labour voters want Sir Keir to resign as party leader, Two-thirds think Labour did badly in the local elections earlier this month but just 31% blame Sir Keir, 57% said Sir Keir has been a better party leader than his predecessor Mr Corbyn, The top choice for Sir Keir's replacement as Labour Party leader was Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, with approval from 47% and disapproval from 19%, The Conservatives are up two points to 44%, whilst Labour has dropped six points to 31%. Nicola Sturgeons departure has disarmed the Scottish separatist threat for a while, though the union remains fragile in the longer term. Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, has picked senior civil servant Sue Gray as his new chief of staff, Sky News reported on Thursday, as the party prepares for a national election next year. ', asks Mark Dolan. Only a minority of 2019 Conservative Party voters, 43%, back a Sunak-led Conservative government to manage the economy. The Labour leaders promises to team up with business may unsettle some on the left of his party, who are already worried about Starmers increasingly cosy relationship with the City. With such a worldview, he is beholden to the City, not ordinary people. Labours registered donationsin 2022 equalled 21.34 million millions more than the rival Conservative Party, figures published Thursday show. Political Monitor. The Partygate investigator Sue Gray is a likely candidate to be Keir Starmer's chief of staff, as the Labour leader searches for a veteran civil . Too soon for that. The poll also found voters backing Keir Starmer over Rishi Sunak. Keir Starmers wait-it-out approach may finally be beginning to pay dividends, two and a half years after he was elected Labour leader. 7 times Hancock hogged UK headlines, Chief of Staff - Maternity Cover (Brussels), Metsola wants Ukraine EU membership talks to start this year, Aggro-culture: Farmers protest brings Brussels EU Quarter to a standstill, Rishi Sunak says Whitehall must be impartial amid row over Grays Labour job. Labour holds large leads over the Conservatives in each of our three tracker polls as the party most trusted on the economy, the NHS, and immigration. Changes of this kind are not like electoral on-off switches. . If you had said the morning after the 2019 election Labour could be back in one term, people would have laughed at you. He also had the shameless Johnson and the Faragiste Tory press bursting to make trouble. 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Potential Tory rebels faced a pincer movement of private pressure at Westminster alongside assured ministerial actions on the national stage. Some Blairites believe Labours most electorally successful leader must be officially welcomed back into the tent to show the public how serious the party is about winning. He is very much, here is the problem and this is the solution. Enough is Enough unequivocally denounces a heartless establishment that, it implies, includes Starmer himself. Leadership approval ratings Rishi . Collapse. Having endured a torrid few months, Rishi Sunak is at least ending February on a personal high. Having dealt with the party machinery at the last conference, the plan was always that the next one will focus on setting out our plans for Britain. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Boris Johnson, leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 24 July 2019 to 6 September 2022. But a third of those 2019 Labour voters now want Sir Keir to resign as party leader after mixed results in last week's elections - including a previously unthinkable by-election defeat in the traditionally safe seat of Hartlepool. Blair and some of his allies were caricatured as never being happier than when rubbing shoulders with Britains rich and powerful.