KEIR Starmer was confronted about his “calamitous” fall in popularity as he was challenged on Labour’s “things can only get worse mantra”.
Pete Wishart asked the Labour leader whether he thought that “attacks on pensioners” or “leaving children in poverty” were to blame for his steeply declining approval ratings, during a punchy exchange at Prime Minister’s Questions.
But the Prime Minister hit back, mocking the depleted numbers of SNP MPs.
It comes after pollsters at YouGov earlier this week declared Labour’s post-election honeymoon period “well and truly over”.
Some 56% of voters now have an unfavourable view of Starmer, with just a third viewing him favourably – a drop from 44% just after the election.
Wishart said: “After 14 miserable years of the worst Tory government in modern times, the best the Prime Minister can offer the British people is ‘things can only get worse’?
“Well, for him and his calamitous opinion ratings, that’s probably true. But why does he think he has such an unprecedented fall in his popularity?
“Is it his attacks on the pensioners? Is it leaving children in poverty? Is it the re-emergence of Labour cronyism or is it because his austerity is even worse than the Conservative variety?”
Starmer replied: “I remember when they used to be here. It’s a long way up and there’s very few of them, so I don’t think we need lectures on popularity and winning elections.”
The Prime Minister found himself under fire from all sides over swingeing cuts he is taking to the state, with the Tories hammering Labour for axing the universal Winter Fuel Payment.
Tory leader Rishi Sunak demanded Starmer say “how much less support a pensioner on £13,000 will receive this winter”.
Starmer said Labour had cut the Winter Fuel Payment to “stabilise our economy” as he defended increased pay for train drivers.
And LibDem leader Ed Davey (above) raised the case of poorer pensioners who took home just enough to make them ineligible for Pension Credit, a benefit which will allow people to claim the Winter Fuel Payment after Labour’s controversial changes come into force.
He said the Prime Minister for his message to “millions of struggling pensioners as they face rising heating bills this winter” because their “income is just a few hundred pounds above the limit for Pension Credit”.
Starmer replied: “Of course it’s a difficult decision, but we have to stabilise the economy.
“The first thing the Chancellor did was an audit, she found £22 billion worth of unfunded spending. We can’t walk past that – we can’t pretend it doesn’t exist.”
