Keir Starmers wait-it-out approach may finally be beginning to pay dividends, two and a half years after he was elected Labour leader. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Theres no complacency but we remain confident of the strategy we have to get Keir to No 10., Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Starmer ally Powell rejects 'stitch up' claim: Sue Gray 'impartial and But he did an important job this week. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Starmer has ensured that the two dominant parties in Britain, like those in the United States, are both unapologetically of capital. 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 . Not least, he has shredded the pledges he made during his campaign for the Labour leadership, policy commitments he sold Labour members as evidence he would serve as the continuity candidate for his left-wing predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. While Starmer is seen as more austere, he has embraced the former PMs party financing strategy. He could hardly have been in a weaker position than he was when he took over as Tory leader in October. LONDON Keir Starmer wants big business to mold Labours election plans and get its fingerprints on his policy agenda. 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 non-Corbynite majority of Labour MPs didnt have an alternative candidate either; hence their mood of gloom and fatalism. Johnson was comprehensively outmanoeuvred. 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. . These are people that dont have to be spending their time and money doing this, a Labour shadow Cabinet minister said. Support for the Labour Party has grown in the aftermath of the Autumn Statement, a new poll reveals today.Aaron Chown. Latest UK Opinion Polls: Government approval recent changes. Labour Leader: Keir Starmer VII | Page 203 | pink fish media Updated on 2 March 2023 at 8:00. Having endured a torrid few months, Rishi Sunak is at least ending February on a personal high. More than six in ten (61%) of Rishi Sunaks voters support the measure, as do 57% of Labour voters, suggesting this policy will land well in the country as a whole. Latest news, analysis and comment from POLITICOs editors and guest writers in Europe. Inflation, higher interest rates, energy price hikes and strikes ensured a grim winter. Opinion: Keir Starmer held his nerve and has eclipsed Boris Johnson as And she heads a Conservative Party barely able to conceal its disarray after such a long spell in government, just as Britain is about to lunge from an energy and cost-of-living crisis into full-blown recession. and already Sunak seems to be making inroads into the Labour opinion poll lead, perhaps due to positive coverage of his NI Protocol efforts. 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. Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party out of touch with opinion, poll finds 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 . Truss and her party have dealt him the easiest of hands, even if he continues to play it as cautiously as possible. Changes of this kind are not like electoral on-off switches. 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. Meanwhile, Sunak continues to trail Keir Starmer in most of the country on the question of which would be the better Prime Minister at this moment. 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%. Only a minority of 2019 Conservative Party voters, 43%, back a Sunak-led Conservative government to manage the economy. politics . But the problem runs deeper. 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.. First, it has suggested that Sunak is capable of rebuilding at least some of the reputation for Conservative competence. Worryingly for Rishi Sunak, only a minority of his own voters, 43%, back a Sunak-led government when it comes to managing the economy. Potential Tory rebels faced a pincer movement of private pressure at Westminster alongside assured ministerial actions on the national stage. Blairs most important fundraiser during his premiership Michael Levy once referred to as Lord Cashpoint also has a role in tapping up wealthy donors. The questions differ slightly from pollster to pollster: Some pollsters ask voters which potential Prime Minister/Chancellor of the Exchequer pairing they would prefer: Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt for the Conservative Party or Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves for the Labour Party. Hapless Sir Keir Starmer's poll rating plunges after a fortnight of A People Polling poll for GB News, conducted on February . Voters, it seems, finally agree. He added: Real grown-ups would actually get everyone back around the table, unite the party, pull the trade unions back on board, build up our war chest and then go on to win the general election.. 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. Sir Keir's office declined to comment, saying it did not offer 'running commentaries' on opinion polls. 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. A poll by YouGov last week revealed 51% of voters say they would vote for Labour in a general election, with just 23% of people saying they would vote Tory. Sir Keir had started to close the gap in April, pollsters Opimium said, but in a survey held on 13 and 14 May, he garnered just 23% support as preferred prime minister. On policy delivery, the Government continues to struggle massively on the three key issues of the economy, the NHS, and immigration. UK ; About ; For business . 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. 2023 Starmers reluctance to criticise big business or show solidarity with workers has shifted political ground in the UK even further to the right. How Sir Keir Starmer's Labour would run a government From 'wealth' taxes to net zero, this is how the would-be PM may act should his party's huge opinion poll lead see them through an election Only England and Wales jurisdiction apply in all legal matters. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Support for the Labour Party has grown in the aftermath of the Autumn Statement, a new poll reveals today. No one was ever charged with any wrongdoing. While 28% think Johnson would make the best prime minister, 26% opted for Starmer. Polling for Ipsos MORI showed the Tories taking the lead in front of Labour again amid a vaccine bou Asked if they wanted their home to remain British, Falkland Islanders said Yes by 99.8 per cent . 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 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). The job of being Leader of the Opposition is, famously, the most thankless available in British politics. Latest news, analysis and comment from POLITICOs editors and guest writers on the continent. Date(s) Some of the more detailed polling questions, which have given Johnson the benefit of the doubt all year, have also turned. He speaks candidly about his drinking since childhood and deliberately avoiding Keir Starmer, with the Labour leader yet to make a decision on his membership of the party. The Socialist Campaign Group of MPs did not have the numbers to trigger a leadership election, let alone a candidate; Rayner had been one of theirs but she had compromised with the ideological enemy in the party. This was a fall of six points, while Mr Johnson saw his popularity climb by eight points to 40%. However, many within Labours ranks found Starmers performance to be flat and criticised his line of questioning. 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. For one thing, the protocol deal may stumble. August 20, 2022 7:00 am (Updated August 21, 2022 9:35 am) Labour holds a 10-point lead over the Conservatives as Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak attack each other in public - but Sir Keir Starmer's . The prominent involvement of Labour MP Zarah Sultana, a Corbyn supporter, suggests the depth of frustration in growing sections of the party at the direction Starmer has taken. Amid all that, Sunak didnt cower in the bunker. The man who would be Prime Minister addressed St. Columb's politics students and students from the . Rishi Sunak is shaping up to be a prime minister Keir Starmer should be wary of. Polls indicate the Tories still lag behind Labour in national opinion . In practice, however, that appears to mean prioritising the supposed needs of the City and major corporations while paying only lip service to the struggle of ordinary people. Keir Starmer goes backwards in polls but Labour still 10 points ahead I find the best way to judge the . No Tory leader can simply declare the convulsions of the past seven years over, or announce that from now on, they will be competent and consensual. 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. Only 17% say a Conservative government with Rishi Sunak as prime minister. But his handling of the Northern Ireland protocol changes this week suggests a leader with more in the tank than critics have allowed. Starmer has experience that Blair didn't. Some 39% of people see the Labour leader as the more effective PM according to the poll, which was commissioned by the Evening Standard. And further underscoring how divorced she is from the public mood, Truss intends to reverse a planned rise in what is a historically low rate of corporation tax. Correlations identify things people with a positive opinion of Keir Starmer are more likely to rate positively than the . Keir Starmer is set to appoint Sue Gray, the senior civil servant who investigated the partygate scandal, as his chief of staff.. Gray, who has a fearsome reputation for probing ministerial misbehaviour and ethics concerns, has left her role as head of the Union and Constitution Directorate at the Cabinet Office and is soon expected to join Starmer's team. Sir Keir Starmer will deliver his conference speech today with the party in a commanding position in the polls (Picture: Metro/YouGov) Labour has hit an historic opinion poll high after a . The party was clearly in the middle of a dramatic transformation. Labours biggest donor, Unite, has reduced its contributions to fund grassroots initiatives Starmers Labour has abandoned. Instead, unlike Liz Truss, he prioritised the things where he could begin to shift the dial and build some political capital. Johnsons poor approval ratings have improved slightly at -27, compared with -30 two weeks ago. Approval in the Blue Wall is no better, with the Governments approval on immigration down by one point to -44%, although it has improved its rating on the economy (-33%, +5), and the NHS (-49%, +2) since January. Scottish independence: SNP's descent into chaos as Keir Starmer and Left-wing party members who joined during Corbyns tenure have been fleeing in droves, depriving Labour of desperately needed income to fight the next general election. Keir Starmer grilled by politics students at St. Columb's The fact weve climbed out of the hole we were in was never a given. Gray, who has decades of government experience, came into the national spotlight last year for her damning investigation into the partygate scandal, a series of law-breaking . R&WS Research Team. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats since August 2020. One member of Labours National Executive Committee (NEC), the partys ruling body, said Alli is a high net worth individual himself which will make quite a difference when he needs to tap people up to say Im giving money, you need to as well.'. UK's Keir Starmer Vows Planning Shake-Up to Speed Up Wind Farms Levys return to the fold has also provided a big boost to Labours fundraising clout. In a similar vein, Starmer has strictly distanced Labour from the spate of strikes breaking out as workers struggle with escalating costs, despite earlier committing towork shoulder to shoulder with the unions to stand up for working people, tackle insecure work and low pay Oppose Tory attacks on the right to take industrial action and the weakening of workplace rights., While Starmer has agreed, when pressed, that workers have a right to strike in principle, his office has condemned strikes, like the rail unions, when they actually take place. February was another good month of polling for the Labour Party and Keir Starmer, who ended January holding a 21% lead over the Conservatives. Sunak was on top of the detail. 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I want our volunteers and staff to have the best pamphlets and resources and information possible, they said. IT'S a genuine poll result . GBNEWS. Opinion comes closest regarding having a lot of . New polling shows that Muslims in the UK are losing faith in the Labour Party, driven partly by unfavourable views towards leader Keir Starmer. 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. That view is backed by Labours left-wing Momentum faction, which is preparing a showdown with Starmer at the party conference. The big winner in all this, however, is disillusionment. Labours registered donationsin 2022 equalled 21.34 million millions more than the rival Conservative Party, figures published Thursday show. March 2, 2023 10:16 am CET. 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. Keir Starmer says average British family to be poorer than average Political Monitor. Blair and others involved have always claimed there was no connection between the two events. Like the Tories, Starmer sees the economy in terms of a battle between the incompatible demands of employers - the state and big business - on one side, and workers on the other. politics . The protocol deal has not yet been approved. In some ways, the content of the protocol deal was the relatively straightforward bit. Keir Starmer demands Covid inquiry reports by end of year UK Muslims losing faith in Labour under Starmer, poll finds The hire of Alli as chair of campaign financing was a particularly adroit decision, according to several MPs and party officials. Its serious people making a serious contribution to leveling the playing field with the Conservatives, they said. 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. This, to me, points to a considerable reservoir of voter discontent with the available options on left and right.. Rishi Sunak branded Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer 'Mr 2nd Referendum' as he told the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories that the public are sick of Brexit 'drama'. These signs of change should be watched seriously, because the Tory party has history as an election winner. All rights reserved. In the aftermath of the Autumn Budget, I imagine these numbers will be a relief to Starmer and his team. Its much less normalized compared to the U.S. and there are much bigger negatives to it in the U.K. aside from the pragmatic arguments. 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. Overall, more than half the country, 54%, say they do not know who to back on the economy or would rather not say. Meanwhile, he has differentiated Labour simply by eschewing the more indefensible forms of predatory capitalism the current Conservative leadership embraces. She told ITV's . 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. The rail strikes are the biggest in decades. The vaccine effect wore off, and the stories of parties in Downing Street last year blew up a bomb marked double standards which had been sitting unexploded for some time under the weakening structure. Log in to access content and manage your profile. Perhaps Sunak should not be too readily dismissed as a caretaker who is seeing out time until Keir Starmer takes over. A senior Labour source said: We know what needs to be done between now and the next election and are ticking everything off on the list. 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. His Blue Wall rating, meanwhile, remains unchanged from January at -10%. If Blairites are now on the rise once again in the Labour Party, what about the man himself? He also had the shameless Johnson and the Faragiste Tory press bursting to make trouble. Does the public actually prefer Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer? On the eve of his big speech, Keir Starmer showed his frustration at being constantly compared with two of his predecessors - Jeremy Corbyn and Tony Blair - and declined to say to which of them he was closer. 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. It was a key insight to recognise that the DUP had overreached itself at the expense of the UKs wider economic and political interests, and was therefore in a weaker position than many assumed. The DUP is divided about how to respond, and enjoys the feeling of having Sunaks future in its hands. Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, speaks at the National Farmers' Union (NFU) conference in Birmingham, UK, on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. In GB as a whole, the Governments net approval rating for its handling of these three issues now sits at -35% (down four points from late January), -49% (-7), and -39% (-3) respectively. His internal opposition had largely given up and gone home, disgusted with the obvious distance he had put between himself and his predecessor, now not even a Labour MP. 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. 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. 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. Starmers hope was that the public would eventually tire of the glaring cronyism and corruption of a ruling party that has been 12 years in power. None of this means Sunak is suddenly the effective and successful leader that the Tory party has lacked for so long. But allow some credit where it is due to Sunak. Some opinion pollsters ask voters which party leader they would prefer as prime minister: Liz Truss (Conservative Party) or Keir Starmer (Labour Party). LONDON Keir Starmer wants big business to "mold" Labour's election plans and get its "fingerprints" on his policy agenda. Imagine Starmer is Polling Badly. Now Times That by Ten 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 . . To find out more information about this research, As Sunak Heralds Protocol Deal, Majority of British Voters Remain Indifferent to Northern Ireland, Plurality of Britons Support Teachers Going on Strike, Latest Blue Wall Voting Intention (26 February 2023), Latest GB Voting Intention (26 February 2023), Britons and Americans Have Similar Views on Recent Chinese Spy Balloon Controversy, Britons Support Governments Ukraine Policy, But More Urgency on Domestic Challenges Needed, the announcement of a deal with the European Union, Sunak and Starmer Monthly Polling Report Card (February 2023), Joe Biden Administration Approval Ratings and Hypothetical Voting Intention (19 February 2023), Latest Red Wall Voting Intention (19 February 2023), Latest GB Voting Intention (18 February 2023), Peter Obi Leads Decisively in Nigeria Polling, Latest Blue Wall Voting Intention (11-12 February 2023). However, it is not all bad news for Starmer. Commenting, Prof. Matt Goodwin added: Amid a mass exodus from the Labour market, and millions of people now taking out-of-work benefits in various forms, this polling clearly points to public support for helping people who are on benefits back into the workplace. 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. Having Tony introduce Keir at the next Labour conference? First poll of 2023 shows Rishi Sunak favourability at -29 . Nicola Sturgeons departure has disarmed the Scottish separatist threat for a while.. A backlash is coming. Keir Starmer blow as MP's shock resignation rocks Labour Party days It is, admittedly, early days for such speculation. Only 29% of voters think Sir Keir looks like a prime minister in waiting, including 48% of people who voted Labour in 2019's general election. In March, Boris Johnson's net approval rating rose to +3, meaning that the PM now has a better net approval rating than Keir Starmer for the first time since April 2020. . It also helps that Starmer is the first Labour leader since Blair to do it himself he actually seems to enjoy fundraising.. . Do you believe Keir Starmer's words? 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