Despite achieving a landslide victory after 14 years in opposition, the new Labour Government under Keir Starmer is already unpopular.
According to the latest YouGov tracker data, Labour’s net favourability rating plummeted from +1 immediately after the election, to –27 now.
Furthermore, Starmer’s own public rating has sunk from –3 to –30 as 53 per cent of Britons say he is doing a bad job as prime minister.
According to the YouGov poll conducted in September, the public has a net negative view of the Labour Government’s handling of all 15 issues respondents were asked about.
The poll results show immigration is the issue respondents believe the Government are handling the most badly
YouGov
Views of the Government are most negative when it comes to immigration, with only 16 per cent having a positive view while 67 per cent have a negative one.
This is closely followed by the NHS, which 64 per cent say they are managing badly and 19 per cent say well.
Next comes taxation with a 62 per cent negative rating, economy at 60 per cent and crime and welfare benefits at 59 per cent.
However, as Labour has only been in office for three months, the results could reflect attitudes to the government more broadly.
When the pollsters looked at the specific actions the Labour Government has taken since coming into office, the results were mixed.
Starmer’s decision to keep the child benefit cap set to two children earned the public’s approval with 61 per cent backing the call, despite significant opposition within his own party.
Likewise, most of the public (57 per cent) backed Labour’s decision to lift the ban on onshore wind farms in England and to suspend some arms sales to Israel (55 per cent).
However, other Labour Government policies have not come off well with the public as 57 per cent of the public are against the decision to change the Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners and the decision to release prisoners early to avoid jail overcrowding (70 per cent).
Overall, one in four Britons have felt let down by the new Government as a separate poll by YouGov found a quarter of Britons (23 per cent) said of the new Government: “I expected them to do well, but I have been disappointed.”
This is twice the number who said: “I expected them to do well, and they have done well,” and only three per cent said they expected the party to do poorly but have been pleasantly surprised.
The main reason people have been let down by Labour so far is because of changes to the Winter Fuel Payments
YouGov
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The main reason that people have been let down by Labour so far is because of changes to the Winter Fuel Payments.
Some 28 per cent of those who said they feel let down by the party so far specifically give this as their biggest reason why.
Connected to this reason is the belief that pensioners and those on low incomes are shouldering the burden of Labour’s first policy announcements, with 16 per cent of those disappointed by Labour pointing to this as the primary reason for feeling so.
Another 13 per cent point to wrong priorities on the part of the Government, while a further 9 per cent say that Labour hasn’t made enough progress in addressing the country’s issues yet.
Despite all this, the public does see the new Government as a shift from its predecessor with 53 per cent of all Britons considering Starmer and co to be a “major” or “fair” change from Sunak and the Tories.