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Sir Keir Starmer’s popularity has slumped to its lowest level on record with the fall most acute among Labour voters, according to YouGov research that will stoke concerns in Downing Street.
The proportion of Labour voters with a favourable view of the UK prime minister has plunged from 62 per cent to 45 per cent in just one month, the polling company found. It is the first time that Starmer has recorded a net negative approval rating among Labour supporters.
Some Labour MPs fear that Starmer’s shift to the right on several policy issues, in an attempt to neutralise the threat from Reform UK, has alienated many of the party’s natural supporters.
The Labour government has announced deep cuts to the international aid budget, set out tough reforms to the welfare system and this week announced new restrictions on immigration.
A speech by Starmer on Monday was criticised by some Labour MPs who suggested his reference to Britain’s risk of becoming an “island of strangers” accidentally echoed language used by Enoch Powell in his controversial 1968 “rivers of blood” address.
More than 100 Labour MPs have signed a private letter to their chief whip calling for tweaks to the welfare reforms, in a sign of jitters inside the Parliamentary Labour party.
The polling follows local elections on May 1 in which Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party made big gains at the expense of both Labour and the Conservatives across counties, mayoralties and a by-election.
Recent polls have shown Reform opening up a substantial lead across the country. Having been only slightly ahead of Labour earlier in the year, Farage’s party is now at an average of 29 per cent ahead of 23 per cent for Labour and 18 per cent for the Conservatives, according to the Politico poll of polls.
Whitehall is preparing for a tough spending review next month in which ministers will set out priorities for the coming years, with further restraint expected in areas including local government.
Across all voters surveyed by YouGov in May, just 23 per cent of Britons expressed a favourable view of Starmer, marking a five-point drop from the same time in April.
That takes his popularity back to its previous nadir of July 2021 when he was opposition leader and the then Tory prime minister Boris Johnson was enjoying a “vaccine bounce” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the proportion of people with an unfavourable opinion of Starmer rising from 62 per cent in April to 69 per cent today, Starmer’s net favourability rating has sunk to -46, the lowest ever recorded by YouGov.
The same polling showed that the public view of Farage has ticked up from 27 per cent to 32 per cent in a month, even if 59 per cent of voters still do not like him, reflecting a net favourability rating of -27.
Farage is slightly more popular among Tory voters than the party’s leader Kemi Badenoch, YouGov suggests. Overall 16 per cent of the public have a favourable opinion of her, while 55 per cent hold an unfavourable view, giving a net score of -39.
Data visualisation by Jonathan Vincent
