Given all of this, it would be simply astonishing if Starmer werent leading in the polls. Either way, were these numbers replicated at a general election you would be looking at a solid Labour majority of 240-260 and only around 100 Conservative MPs in the Commons. Robert Struthers of BMG told i: Keir Starmer will have been hoping for a polling bounce following his big announcement on freezing energy bills to tackle the energy crisis at the beginning of this week. To top it all, Trusss government has vowed to let the energy sector continue raking in inflated profits rather than impose a crowd-pleasing windfall tax. 2. 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. He has banned Labours front bench from joining picket lines, an edict that has been defied by several of them and looked all the more risible as even barristers have begun taking industrial action. Its leader, Sharon Graham, has said of union funding for Labour: Im not sure were getting the best value for it.. 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. 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. Starmers reluctance to criticise Big Business or show solidarity with workers has shifted political ground in the UK even further to the right. First, it has suggested that Sunak is capable of rebuilding at least some of the reputation for Conservative competence. Latest news, analysis and comment from POLITICOs editors and guest writers on the continent. Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party is out of touch with public opinion, poll has found. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, co-leaders of the Green Party of England and Wales since October 2021. But Levys comeback is not free of controversy. In my dealings with Gray when I was political secretary, I found her . 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. Labours biggest donor, Unite, has reduced its contributions to fund grassroots initiatives Starmers Labour has abandoned. But a third of those 2019 Labour voters now want Sir Keir to resign as party leader after mixed results in last week's elections - including a previously unthinkable by-election defeat in the traditionally safe seat of Hartlepool. So will his left-wing opponents, and mainstream MPs who . For similar reasons, the Enough is Enough movement has recently emerged, demanding pay rises for workers and higher taxes for the rich. These polls asked the opinions of British voters, not specifically Scottish voters. Sunak has had luck along the way. This was a fall of six points, while Mr Johnson saw his popularity climb by eight points to 40%. 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. That view is backed by Labours left-wing Momentum faction, which is preparing a showdown with Starmer at the party conference. Sunak sets out Northern Ireland trade deal to MPs as Labour vow to back agreement as it happened, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. He helped Labour raise 100 million from 1994 to 2007, before leaving when Blair resigned and he still has deep links to Britains private sector. Sir Keir Starmer - Labour Party Leader. If Blairites are now on the rise once again in the Labour Party, what about the man himself? Collapse. 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. Starmers popularity has actually fallen back slightly, with a net of -6, compared with a neutral satisfaction score in June this year. Politics. Labour leader Keir Starmer's promises to team up with business may unsettle some on the left of his party | Hollie Adams/Getty Images. 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.. Blairs most important fundraiser during his premiership Michael Levy once referred to as Lord Cashpoint also has a role in tapping up wealthy donors. But his handling of the Northern Ireland protocol changes this week suggests a leader with more in the tank than critics have allowed. And in refusing to countenance any dissent from within Labour, or entertain any meaningful pluralism in its ranks - starkly illustrated by his approaches both to support for Nato and the monarchy - he has echoed not only the rights agenda but its authoritarian instinctstoo. 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 battered economy, on which Starmer focused almost all his questions to Sunak in the Commons yesterday, remains far and away the central battleground of electoral politics for the foreseeable future. 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. One Labour MP described Alli as absolutely lovely and very persuasive. Referring to his status as one of the worlds only openly gay Muslim politicians, they added: You should never underestimate someone from his background who has fought that hard for LGBT rights.. 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. Keir Starmer has been urged to intervene in the selection process for a Labour target "red wall" seat, after a leading candidate who had the support of eight trade unions was blocked from . Even some Tory rebels were baffled by Starmers performance, saying it had helped Johnson regain some stability after the confidence vote. Prince Harry set to lose crucial royal role as bitter feud could se 'Whats up with government by WhatsApp? R&WS Research Team. 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Last modified on Thu 2 Mar 2023 08.43 EST. Advocacy group the Labour Muslim Network (LMN . . The DUP is divided about how to respond, and enjoys the feeling of having Sunaks future in its hands. March 2, 2023 10:16 am CET. Starmer has refused to cash in on the most visible sign of growing public discontent at Tory policies that continue to redistribute wealth upwards. The Labour leaders promises to team up with business may unsettle some on the left of his party, who are already worried about Starmers increasingly cosy relationship with the City. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK, formerly named Brexit Party, until 6 March 2021. He urged those in the session to make sure that as we go into that election and hopefully the other side of that election, we are saying the right thing in the right way about what we can achieve.. The king played his symbolic role. Having endured a torrid few months, Rishi Sunak is at least ending February on a personal high. The poll also found voters backing Keir Starmer over Rishi Sunak. Andrew Fisher, Corbyns former director of policy, said Starmers preference for private donations may backfire. Only a minority of 2019 Conservative Party voters, 43%, back a Sunak-led Conservative government to manage the economy. During the Hartlepool campaign, when opinion polls made clear Labour was going to lose, he was reported by The Times (earlier this month) to have shouted to his team: Everyone hates us, everyone hates us, why do they hate us? While 50% of voters in Britain still see the Government Sunak leads as incompetent, the Governments net competency rating is only marginally lower now than it was in late January (down one point to -34%). Combined with his purges of the Labour left, including Corbyn, using antisemitism as the pretext, Starmer has hollowed out left-wing politics in the UK of any substance. The DUP was not allowed to hijack the launch and mobilise the European Research Group. 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. 61 per cent want 'completely new type of political . The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Liz Truss, leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 6 September 2022 and until 25 October 2022. It would be foolish to ignore them. His party trails Labour by more than 20 points in the polls. Too soon for that. Opinion Rishi Sunak. Public opinion. Political Monitor. 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. Hence some of the changes to the leaders office which he has made since then. His party trails Labour by, Sunak has had luck along the way. Left-wing Labour MP Diane Abbott said Starmer seems to be reverting to the worst practices of New Labour., What business will want, because theyre giving us all this money, is theyll want results, she said. Even as Labour drew level in voting intention polls in November, Starmer limped behind Johnson in the preferred prime minister polling. Keir Starmer is the 1st most popular Labour politician and the 2nd most popular politician & political figure. 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 hire of Alli as chair of campaign financing was a particularly adroit decision, according to several MPs and party officials.