Does Rishi Sunak deserve some kind of apology? Leader of the British Labour Party, Keir Starmer, says that if nothing changes, Great Britain's GDP per capita would be lower than that of Poland in 7 years, and that of Hungary and Romania in 17 years. 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. Sir Keir took over his party's leadership from Jeremy Corbyn in April last year, and by September the party was ahead of the Conservatives in some polls for the first time since Mr Johnson became prime minister. Starmer himself remained grimly determined, with only one outburst of temper or, at least, only one that was reported to the outside world, and that was after a delay of many months, suggesting that the inner team remained loyal throughout. Labours leads range from a yawning 31-point gap in our GB poll on the NHS (that lead representing a one-point gain from late January) to a relatively narrow four-point lead over the Conservatives in the Blue Wall as the party most trusted to manage the economy (32% to 28%, down from a 35% to 25% lead in our last Blue Wall Poll of January). It is still more likely that Sunak will oversee the end of a long period of Conservative government than its renewal. 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. Political Monitor. Hence some of the changes to the leaders office which he has made since then. The Windsor Framework "gives enough" to end the Stormont stalemate, Sir Keir Starmer believes. Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, has picked senior civil servant Sue Gray as his new chief of staff, Sky News reported on Thursday, as the party prepares for a national election next year. 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. 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 also reveals that Starmers party holds a narrow two-point lead, compared with a three-point lead in the last poll a fortnight ago. Labour MPs and party officials say the fundraising operation is far more professionalized than at any other point during Labours last 13 years in the wilderness. 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These are people that dont have to be spending their time and money doing this, a Labour shadow Cabinet minister said. Starmer clearly believes very firmly in the corrupt FPTP system as . People in Britain, generally, are much more cynical about big money influencing politics, he warned. 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. Prince Harry set to lose crucial royal role as bitter feud could se 'Whats up with government by WhatsApp? 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 . Yet Keir Starmer's 'mission statement' last week managed something that nearly all speeches from those in his job - including most of his own - fail to achieve: broadly favourable and widespread coverage of his core message that Labour is a government . An improved UK-EU relationship that could eventually ease Britains trading problems is more distant still. New polling shows that Muslims in the UK are losing faith in the Labour Party, driven partly by unfavourable views towards leader Keir Starmer. Do you believe Keir Starmer's words? He is not. Energy prices have begun to ease. Hes a lawyer hes learning his brief.. 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. Instead, unlike Liz Truss, he prioritised the things where he could begin to shift the dial and build some political capital. He was previously Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.. Starmer was born in London and raised in Surrey, where he . Starmers reluctance to criticise big business or show solidarity with workers has shifted political ground in the UK even further to the right. politics . Search. Voices Keir Starmer can afford to be polite to Liz Truss for one key reason - he knows he is winning. 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. The get together was reeling from its worst efficiency on the poll field since 1935, riven by inner divisions, below hearth over its report of tackling antisemitism and going through an seemingly unassailable Boris Johnson atop an 80-seat majority. On the proposal to reduce the threshold at which people pay the highest rate of tax from 150,000 to 125,140, the poll found that 50% of adults support this measure while 13% are opposed. Some 75% approve of the government's handling of the vaccine rollout. Sunaks handling of the NI protocol suggests a leader and a Tory party with more left in the tank than some think. The polling companies listed are members of the British Polling Council (BPC) and abide by its disclosure rules. The choreography of the protocol deal was also bold. Sir Keir Starmer - Labour Party Leader. Commenting on the poll, a nationally representative survey of British adults by British Polling Council (BPC) member People Polling, Professor Matt Goodwin said: Both these numbers and the polls more broadly suggest that the Conservative Partys limited recovery that has been visible in the polls in recent weeks may have stalled. A YouGov poll carried out this week showed 45% of the public were against the RMT strike, with 37% in favour. Support for the Labour Party has grown in the aftermath of the Autumn Statement, a new poll reveals today. Truss is hampered by being deeply uncharismatic - possibly even more so than Starmer, and in stark contrast to her immediate predecessor, Boris Johnson. 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). After the loss of Hartlepool in a by-election in May and a clash with Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, over the reshuffle that followed, he and his party seemed to suffer a crisis of confidence. Only a minority of 2019 Conservative Party voters, 43%, back a Sunak-led Conservative government to manage the economy. Support for the Labour Party has grown in the aftermath of the Autumn Statement, a new poll reveals today.Aaron Chown. 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. 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. Why wont anyone tell me anything?. LONDON Keir Starmer wants big business to mold Labours election plans and get its fingerprints on his policy agenda. The party was clearly in the middle of a dramatic transformation. Leadership approval ratings Rishi . 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. 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 rail strikes are the biggest in decades. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition since April 2020. . Sir Keir's office declined to comment, saying it did not offer 'running commentaries' on opinion polls. Which will be only too evident as he addresses Labours annual conference next week. Explore the live extension of our journalism, The wonk's survival guide to the EU Green Deal, Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize winner sentenced to 10 years in jail, Turkeys opposition splits over candidate to fight Erdoan, Germany to Switzerland: We want your tanks, Calculated evil: How Putins forces use war crimes and torture to erase Ukrainian identity, Let us film MPs as they vote, says outgoing Sky News chief, WhatsApp panic stalks Westminster after mass leak of private messages, Why always Matt? Sunak was on top of the detail. His dullness became steadiness; his earnestness became a serious leader for serious times. Starmer has transplanted many of Blairs favorite donor point-people into his close circle to build a powerhouse fundraising team. 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. The job of being Leader of the Opposition is, famously, the most thankless available in British politics. By logging in, you confirm acceptance of ourPOLITICO Privacy Policy. Latest news, analysis and comment on German politics and beyond. That has included reneging on his commitment to take back into public ownership key utilities, including gas and electricity. 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 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%. All rights reserved. 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. Woman with cerebral palsy jailed after waving 77-year-old cyclist i Sadiq Khan sparks outrage after branding Britons' concerns about Ul Andrew Tate says he's 'seriously ill' as he seeks permission to lea Hunt set for last minute change to energy price cap which will save Britons hundreds of pounds. An Opinium poll sees the Labour leader struggling to make headway against a PM whose handling of the pandemic has gained approval. So will his left-wing opponents, and mainstream MPs who . Middle East Eye. But worse, in colluding with the narrative of the Tories and establishment media, he has made a dirty word of socialism of any kind. Time. 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.'. R&WS Research Team. 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. 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? 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. His party trails Labour by, Sunak has had luck along the way. It was, mathematically, the result of the government and prime minister enjoying a vaccine boost in popularity, but it prompted bitter Corbynites to remind Blairites how they had predicted that under any other leader Labour would be 20 points ahead. What it shows is that these guys think Keir is going to win. Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer at the Platinum Pageant for the Queen in London. neutral role in the civil service would come at a time when Labour holds a strong lead over the ruling Conservatives in opinion polls and as Starmer sets out his vision and policy priorities for Britain ahead of a . And Ipsos MORI has Starmer 13 points ahead, while other pollsters also show him outperforming his party. Labour looks to Keir Starmer's readiness to pounce. If you do not have an account you can register here. When Sir Keir Starmer turned Labour chief in 2020, few ever believed he would develop into prime minister. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye. In-depth reporting, data and actionable intelligence for policy professionals all in one place. From the (limited) media I read it was pretty well received and will maintain/increase Labour's lead in the opinion polls. He has blamed ballooning debt from the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason. Perhaps Sunak should not be too readily dismissed as a caretaker who is seeing out time until Keir Starmer takes over. As a strategy to win an election the speech "did the trick". 7 times Hancock hogged UK headlines, Chief of Staff - Maternity Cover (Brussels), Metsola wants Ukraine EU membership talks to start this year, Aggro-culture: Farmers protest brings Brussels EU Quarter to a standstill, Rishi Sunak says Whitehall must be impartial amid row over Grays Labour job. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Sin Berry and Jonathan Bartley, co-leaders of the Green Party from 4 September 2018 to 31 July 2021. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015. Even some Tory rebels were baffled by Starmers performance, saying it had helped Johnson regain some stability after the confidence vote. 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? Amid all that, Sunak didnt cower in the bunker. In late June, he formally ditched those promises, saying Labour would be starting from scratch. 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. One month ago he was on -3 in the equivalent BMG poll and in June the number of people who were satisfied was the same as those dissatisfied. Most of what was unveiled notably the green and red lanes and the dispute resolution system has been on the table for years. Boris Johnson's opinion poll lead over Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer as the "best prime minister" for the UK evaporated on Monday, as Downing Street tried to stop the fuel crisis descending . But he has made his own luck too. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. IT'S a genuine poll result . BOOST for Labour and Keir Starmer after the Autumn Statement - GB News poll reveals, Nationwide hikes up mortgage rates again just weeks after promoting cuts. Cubus Follow. He has become the voice of a new populist grassroots politics filling the void on the left created by Starmers all-too visible absence. Labour ahead of Tories by two points, but Labours leader failing to make a personal breakthrough. 2. Page of 216. Focaldata found that Starmer is regarded as more trustworthy than Johnson, better equipped to make tough decisions and more competent. But the problem runs deeper. Progressive politics is out in the cold. Some Blairites believe Labours most electorally successful leader must be officially welcomed back into the tent to show the public how serious the party is about winning. The next election is expected in 2024, but it could be sooner if Liz Truss's huge tax giveaway backfiresmore than it already has. . 3 minutes read. Prof Goodwin said: Keir Starmers Labour Party continues to hold a strong lead when it comes to managing the economy, which is also the most important issue for voters. Starmer has differentiated Labour simply by eschewing the more indefensible forms of predatory capitalism the current Conservative leadership embraces. Changes of this kind are not like electoral on-off switches. In the aftermath of the Autumn Budget, I imagine these numbers will be a relief to Starmer and his team. Advocacy group the Labour Muslim Network (LMN . Overall, 57% of all voters support this, rising to 78% of Rishi Sunaks own voters. The hire of Alli as chair of campaign financing was a particularly adroit decision, according to several MPs and party officials. 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.