Sir Keir Starmer is the most unpopular new PM in history, a shock poll has revealed.
The Prime Minister has faced widespread fury over Labour’s National Insurance hikes, winter fuel cuts, the war with farmers, freebies given to government ministers, and the failure to tackle the Channel migrant crisis.
A ballot by Ipsos Mori showed six in 10 (61%) people are “dissatisfied” with the Sir Keir’s performance — including more than a third (39%) of Labour supporters.
Just one in four (27%) of all voters said they were “satisfied” with Sir Keir’s performance.
Sir Keir’s net satisfaction has plummeted to -34 since Labour won a landslide victory in July.
The second most unpopular premier after five months was Gordon Brown (-23) in 2007, followed by Rishi Sunak (-22) in 2023.
The most popular was Sir Tony Blair (+57) in 1997, followed by Sir John Major (+33) in 1991.
Speaking at the Business Property Relief Summit, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is expected to warn that nobody is safe from Labour’s tax hikes.
She said: “Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves spent months, years even, on a charm offensive to convince businesses they had nothing to fear from a Labour government.
“Within weeks of taking office, they unleashed the worst raid on family business in living memory. They promised to get growth going. Instead, growth is going backwards.
“Keir Starmer’s decisions will drain investment and growth out of the British economy. And no one is safe. Businesses small and large, rural and urban, whether they make goods or provide services.
“The warning from Family Business UK that Labour’s changes to BPR could lead to 125,000 job losses is chilling. For some context, that figure is equivalent to the entire population of Blackburn.”
Confidence in the economy under Sir Keir is also the second-worst, the poll discovered. Just 15% believe it will improve over the next year.
By contrast, nearly two-thirds (65%) think it will get worse. It gives Sir Keir a net optimism rating of -49 on the economy.
Fears are intensifying that Ms Reeves’s record £40billion Budget tax raid has already damaged Britain.
The economy unexpectedly shrank for the second consecutive month in October, according to data released last week. Experts are bracing for a potential increase in the unemployment rate in jobs data due on Tuesday.
October saw services flatline at 0% growth, while production output fell 0.6% and construction down 0.4%.
The boss of Reed, one of the UK’s largest recruiters, suggested that falling vacancies mean a recession could be looming after the Budget “spooked business”.
