Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, speaks at the National Farmers' Union (NFU) conference in Birmingham, UK, on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Sunak had to market a compromise not just to the DUP, but also to a Tory party in which too many had become intoxicated with their own dogmas which is exactly why Sunak lost to Truss last summer. I want our volunteers and staff to have the best pamphlets and resources and information possible, they said. 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. For one thing, the protocol deal may stumble. 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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). Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, LondonJames Manning. Starmers reluctance to criticise Big Business or show solidarity with workers has shifted political ground in the UK even further to the right. Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds is known across the City of London as an affable and engaging MP with a real understanding of financial services. Neither Labour or the Cabinet Office denied a report by Sky News' that the Labour leader who current polls suggest could . She has managed the difficult feat of appearing to be both opportunistic and a political ideologue for big business who lacks the popular touch. LONDON Keir Starmer wants big business to mold Labours election plans and get its fingerprints on his policy agenda. An improved UK-EU relationship that could eventually ease Britains trading problems is more distant still. March 2, 2023. in News. Latest news, analysis and comment on German politics and beyond. On policy delivery, the Government continues to struggle massively on the three key issues of the economy, the NHS, and immigration. The Labour leader is rated better on dealing with the cost of living than both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. When asked who is best to manage the economy in the years ahead, 30% say a Labour government with Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister. 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 . If you had said the morning after the 2019 election Labour could be back in one term, people would have laughed at you. The Labour leader said he is glad the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is taking time to consider . politics . Shadow Cabinet ministers have been urged to attend as many dinners with prospective donors as possible, with the leaders office sometimes pairing ministers with wealthy individuals. Indeed, Labours biggest backer, the union Unite, has reduced its contributions to the party in retaliation for Starmers efforts to shift away from the socialist policies of Corbyn. But allow some credit where it is due to Sunak. But dont underestimate this prime minister, either. He seems to have taken as his starting point an assumption - shared by the establishment media - that the antagonism engineered by the Thatcher government through the 1980s towards trade unions and industrial action still holds 40 years later. A backlash is coming, Labour leader Keir Starmer addresses the annual Labour Party conference in Brighton, England, on 9 September 2021 (AFP), How top Labour officials plotted to bring down Jeremy Corbyn, Forde Inquiry exposes Labour's biggest problem: Keir Starmer, Jonathan Cook is the author of three books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. It includes a job ad for a celebrities and endorsement manager.. Truss is hampered by being deeply uncharismatic - possibly even more so than Starmer, and in stark contrast to her immediate predecessor, Boris Johnson. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats since August 2020. Sir Keir Starmer's decision to make Sue Gray his chief of staff proves he is a "man of the establishment" and will harm Labour's chances of winning the Red Wall, a former Conservative party chairman has claimed Sir Jake Berry said the appointment underlined that the Labour leader would run a . In-depth reporting, data and actionable intelligence for policy professionals all in one place. But theres no sense of what the wider project is.. The Opinium figures, which will raise further concerns within Labour over the party leader's performance, shows that the prime minister has a two-point lead over his opponent. The health service has been on its knees. Starmer certainly is not doing so. 'Free speech is the only thing the new woke religion - will not - a Sherlock actor labelled transphobic for saying parents taking child UK drivers due 'huge pump price cut' in just days as warning issued King Charles refused to forgive Prince Harry's 'ultimate act of disrespect'. 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. Although his approval rating in the Blue Wall fell two points in February to now stand at +6%, his rating in both the Red Wall (+14%) and GB (+13%) are up by six and four points respectively. Do you believe Keir Starmer's words? 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. No one was ever charged with any wrongdoing. There is also majority support for helping the more than 600,000 people on benefits to have to meet with a work coach to help them back into the labour market. Perhaps Sunak should not be too readily dismissed as a caretaker who is seeing out time until Keir Starmer takes over. The remainder say they neither support nor oppose or they do now know). When Starmer was running for leader, many of his supporters expressed how important it was that he looked like a prime-minister-in . The Windsor Framework "gives enough" to end the Stormont stalemate, Sir Keir Starmer believes. Its 100-a-month business group the Rose Network has more than 500 members, up from 300 less than three years ago. At various dates in the run up to the next United Kingdom general election, various organisations have carried out opinion polling to gauge the opinions that voters hold towards political leaders. If Starmers mid-year trough was the mathematical product of Johnsons vaccine-induced rise, his end-year breakthrough could be dismissed as the mere reflection of the prime ministers unpopularity but it feels more soundly based than that. Overall, 57% of all voters support this, rising to 78% of Rishi Sunaks own voters. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, The opinion polls have turned in the Labour leaders favour vindicating his strategic patience, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. 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. He was previously Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.. Starmer was born in London and raised in Surrey, where he . IT'S a genuine poll result . "The Labour leader has taken a significant fall across all metrics in the last two weeks, particularly being a strong leader, looking like a prime minister in waiting, and being able to get things done. Blair and others involved have always claimed there was no connection between the two events. However, it is not all bad news for Starmer. politics . This represents a five-point jump for Labour when compared to polling carried out by the channel last week, and no movement at all for the Conservatives, who remain on 21% of the vote. SIR Keir Starmer has seen his ranking plunge in the polls after a terrible fortnight of bungles. 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. To me, Starmer is hyper-competent as a manager and organiser. With such a worldview, he is beholden to the City, not ordinary people. Sunaks handling of the NI protocol suggests a leader and a Tory party with more left in the tank than some think. And he is now trailing Sir Keir as the most popular candidate to be Prime Minister. Some opinion pollsters ask voters which party leader they would prefer as prime minister: Liz Truss (Conservative Party) or Keir Starmer (Labour Party). But he has made his own luck too. Potential Tory rebels faced a pincer movement of private pressure at Westminster alongside assured ministerial actions on the national stage. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition since April 2020. He has become the voice of a new populist grassroots politics filling the void on the left created by Starmers all-too visible absence. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Starmer had begun the year in a strong position, ready for the next leg of the long march up Labours electoral mountain. This was a fall of six points, while Mr Johnson saw his popularity climb by eight points to 40%. The date range for opinion polls is from the 2019 United Kingdom general election, held on 12 December, to the present day. It is a dramatic capitulation for a party in opposition that grew out of the activities of the trade union movement and still affirms on its website that its affiliation with leading unions is what makes [Labour] unique. 10. After three years of near-destitution brought on by COVID-19, falling membership numbers and reduced union funding the party is now beginning to look cashed-up. Instead, unlike Liz Truss, he prioritised the things where he could begin to shift the dial and build some political capital. 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. At a time of major problems in the NHSfrom backlogged waiting lists, to strikes by ambulance drivers, nurses and junior doctorsdominating many voters thoughts, voters in the Blue Wall (30%), the Red Wall (36%), and the country at large (44%) all notably select the NHS/Healthcare as the issue they most trust his party to deliver on. 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. How the PM could block sleaze watchdog's advice on Gray hire and if Labour will ignore him, Opinion | Boris Johnsons 'jobs for Tory cronies' legacy is still alive and kicking, Tory MPs furious at Starmer hiring Sue Gray as Rees-Mogg calls her report 'left-wing stitch-up', publics view of the the Labour leader himself appears to be becoming more negative, Keir Starmer will have been hoping for a polling bounce following his big announcement on freezing energy bills, 'How bad are the pics? The politicians listed below include: The following polls have asked people which leader they think would better handle the COVID-19 pandemic. He was at the center of a police investigation into the so-called cash for honors scandal in 2006, which saw claims that seats in the House of Lords were being offered in exchange for large unregistered loans to the Labour Party. Energy prices have begun to ease. The rail strikes are the biggest in decades. Polling for Ipsos MORI showed the Tories taking the lead in front of Labour again amid a vaccine bou Which will be only too evident as he addresses Labours annual conference next week. This, to me, points to a considerable reservoir of voter discontent with the available options on left and right.. All rights reserved. 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. Opinion comes closest regarding having a lot of . . Only a minority of 2019 Conservative Party voters, 43%, back a Sunak-led Conservative government to manage the economy. The choreography of the protocol deal was also bold. Data are weighted. A source in the leaders office told me that, with Keir, the Labour Party has the strongest message discipline weve had in years. "However, at least then Labour could console itself that their leader was new and making a positive impression. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is trailing Boris Johnson as the British public's preferred prime minister by 17 percentage points, according to a new poll. The leader of the Labour Party Keir Starmer says that under the current rate, the average British family will be poorer than the average Polish family by 2030Parliament TV Hopes for that encounter had been high following the confidence vote held by Tory MPs over Johnsons leadership, a move that left the prime minister deeply wounded with 148 voting against him. The opinion polls have turned in the Labour leader's favour - vindicating his 'strategic patience'. Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party is out of touch with public opinion, poll has found. Businesses arent altruists giving us all this money means that they will tend to want more movement towards the interests of business., Mandelson, meanwhile, told POLITICO Labour needs many more individual donors to compensate for the sums currently being withheld by hard-left controlled unions.. A backlash is coming. 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. 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. Latest news, analysis and comment on defense in Europe and beyond. Labours new HQ in Southwark is described by party officials as a serious upgrade, with the NEC member quoted earlier calling it a proper campaign HQ, like it was in 1997., The party has also been on a hiring spree in recent months, advertising for dozens of new positions across the country. March 2, 2023 10:16 am CET. Keir Starmer was rewarded for his strategic patience, according to an ally, when just as the year ended, he took a clear lead over Boris Johnson as the leader people would prefer to have as prime minister. If you do not have an account you can register here. The big winner in all this, however, is disillusionment. Keir Starmers wait-it-out approach may finally be beginning to pay dividends, two and a half years after he was elected Labour leader. The findings which show the Liberal Democrats on 11 per cent, the Greens on 5 per cent and Reform UK on 3 per cent suggest Sir Keir is currently on course to become Prime Minister at the next general election and may win a Commons majority. The next election is expected in 2024, but it could be sooner if Liz Truss's huge tax giveaway backfiresmore than it already has. Around the middle of the year, however, the tide started to turn. Labour looks to Keir Starmer's readiness to pounce. Public Sector. Of course, the Conservative Party will take evasive action, up to and including changing leader, before the next election, but we can now see that Labours doom and gloom about Starmers anti-charisma and Johnsons Teflon qualities were overdone. 2. The poll also found voters backing Keir Starmer over Rishi Sunak. Leadership approval ratings Rishi . Explore the latest YouGov polling, survey results and articles about Keir Starmer. 2023 But Starmers success - assuming it can be maintained - has come at an extraordinarily high political price. It comes with Labour MPs still feeling gloomy over Starmers performance at prime ministers questions on Wednesday. These signs of change should be watched seriously, because the Tory party has history as an election winner. . UK ; About ; For business . For most of the year, as the government enjoyed the protection against the illness of unpopularity afforded by a successful vaccination programme, it looked as if the forward march of Labour had halted. He also had the shameless Johnson and the Faragiste Tory press bursting to make trouble. While their lead of 9% in the Blue Wall represents a slight one-point narrowing in comparison to the end of last month, the partys lead over the Conservatives has altogether grown during February by two points in the Red Wall and by six points nationally. And, in a further nod to the business-friendly New Labour days of the 1990s and 2000s, hes even tapping Tony Blairs moneymen to fund his bid for power. Alli, reportedly worth upward of 100 million, is plugged into to Londons arts, media and business sets. . 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. 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.. The non-Corbynite majority of Labour MPs didnt have an alternative candidate either; hence their mood of gloom and fatalism. Leadership approval opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election. But he did an important job this week. Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, was well briefed. "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. Although they remain neck-and-neck on 38% each in the traditionally Conservative-voting Blue Wall, Starmer has opened up a lead of 7% in the Red Wall constituencies (three points lower than the 10-point margin he held at the end of January) and a 9% lead across the whole of Great Britain (three points more than at the end of January). . It was the year of three prime ministers and four chancellors. Middle East Eye. Polls indicate the Tories still lag behind Labour in national opinion . Labour also still hold a lead of 10 points over the Conservatives in terms of overall voting intentions, broadly in line with our figures for June and likely to see the Labour party win a majority if an election were tomorrow.. It is a dramatic capitulation for a party in opposition that grew out of the activities of the trade union movement. In late June, he formally ditched those promises, saying Labour would be starting from scratch. Starmer is determined to beat the Tories at their own game, vowing to fight the election on economic growth. Keir Starmer is finally ahead in the polls but at what cost? She told ITV's . None of this means Sunak is suddenly the effective and successful leader that the Tory party has lacked for so long. In many ways this looks rather like 1996 with Blair and Brown promising Tory-like spending controls and picking fights with the left of the party. So will his left-wing opponents, and mainstream MPs who .