Labour’s make-or-break party conference made Keir Starmer LESS popular, a damning new poll has revealed. Labour attempted to use the gathering last week to take the fight to Nigel Farage, and Sir Keir delivered a controversial speech branding the Reform UK leader an “enemy”. But the event was dominated by speculation about Sir Keir’s future and whether he could be replaced by a Labour rival such as Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester Mayor.
And a new poll by Opinium found that Sir Keir’s approval rating actually fell after the conference. His net approval rating – the number who dislike him compared to the number who do – fell to -44%, down by 3%. Half of voters (50%) said Labour had a bad week during its Conference, with only 20% saying they’d had a good week.
Sir Keir still trails Reform leader Nigel Farage as the person voters think is best placed to be Prime Minister, with Mr Farage extending his lead over Sir Keir to five points – 31% saying Mr Farage would do the best job and 26% saying Sir Keir. It means the Reform UK lead is up three points over the Labour Conference week.
What’s more, more voters viewed Starmer’s Conference speech negatively (34%) than positively (23%). But Labour voters were more supportive of the speech, with 45% saying Starmer had done a good job, compared to 19% who held a negative view.
Across a range of metrics, perceptions of Labour worsened over its Conference week. The party dropped five points on the public’s view of whether they “have similar views to my own” (net -34) and four points on “representing what most people think” (net -38).
A majority of voters believe the party is failing to rebuild trust in politics (65%), provide hope or optimism (61%), or offer a competent government (59%).
And more voters see Nigel Farage as optimistic (39%) about Britain’s future than Keir Starmer (32%). However, the same proportion of voters (39%) see Farage as pessimistic about the future.
But as Conservatves begin their conference in Manchester, there is bad news for leader Kemi Badenoch with her net approval steady at -22 overall (18% approve, 40% disapprove). Among 2024 Conservative voters, fewer than two in five (38%) approve of the job she is doing so far, while 21% disapprove.
