KEIR Starmer’s approval ratings have reached a record low as his government nears its 100th day in office, according to a new poll.
The Prime Minister has a net favourability rating of minus 26, with 52% of Britons disapproving of his leadership, according to pollsters Ipso.
Labour will mark 100 days in office on Saturday but a damaging first few months have rocked the party despite winning a landslide majority at the election.
An attempted reset at the start of this week saw Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray ousted in favour of the PM’s right hand man Morgan McSweeney (below) as Downing Street struggled to contain a row over senior ministers hoovering up freebies from companies.
Labour’s net favourability ratings have gone from six points on taking office to minus 21 now.
And in an exercise where survey respondents are asked to give the Government a rating between 0 and 10, October’s score fell to 3.8 from 4.4 in September.
The party have also struggled with the controversy over the decision to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment for all but the poorest pensioners – with Scottish Labour recently blaming the policy for string of by-election losses.
According to Ipsos, Labour’s popularity is falling faster among older people, with a negative swing of minus 18 points among those over 55 compared with minus 4.5 among 18 to 34-year-olds.
They are also losing the support of Labour voters, Ipsos’ Political Pulse opinion tracker found, with a negative swing of minus 10.5 points among those who voted for the party in July.
But in a development that will provide some comfort in No 10, Labour’s approval ratings are still better than the Tories’, with just 24% of people feeling favourable towards Rishi Sunak’s party.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (above), due to unveil her first Budget at the end of the month, has also recorded a record-low favourability rating of minus 30, while 44% believe she is doing a bad job – the same figure recorded for Jeremy Hunt during his last days at the Treasury.
Keiran Pedley, director of politics at Ipsos, said: “These numbers make difficult reading for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, with both registering their worst favourability scores with Ipsos since taking on their respective positions.
“With six in 10 not confident in Labour’s long-term economic plan, the pressure is on for the coming Budget to land well, with Labour facing significant political risk if it doesn’t.”
The Ipsos poll was conducted between October 4 and 7 and surveyed 1133 UK adults.
