Keir Starmer can afford to be polite to Liz Truss for one key reason Politics latest news: Labour holds 29 point lead over Tories, new poll Blair and others involved have always claimed there was no connection between the two events. In a similar vein, Starmer has strictly distanced Labour from the spate of strikes breaking out as workers struggle with escalating costs, despite earlier committing towork shoulder to shoulder with the unions to stand up for working people, tackle insecure work and low pay Oppose Tory attacks on the right to take industrial action and the weakening of workplace rights., While Starmer has agreed, when pressed, that workers have a right to strike in principle, his office has condemned strikes, like the rail unions, when they actually take place. While their lead of 9% in the Blue Wall represents a slight one-point narrowing in comparison to the end of last month, the partys lead over the Conservatives has altogether grown during February by two points in the Red Wall and by six points nationally. Rishi Sunak warns MPs they can't trust Keir Starmer on Brexit Voices Keir Starmer can afford to be polite to Liz Truss for one key reason - he knows he is winning. UK Labour leader Starmer picks 'Partygate' investigator Sue Gray as Only a minority of 2019 Conservative Party voters, 43%, back a Sunak-led Conservative government to manage the economy. Yet Starmer found himself going backwards, as Labour sank gently in the opinion polls. Labour looks to Keir Starmer's readiness to pounce. Labour extended its lead nationally to 27%, the widest margin it has held since Sunak became PM in October, while also opening up a lead of 28% in the Red Wall (another record lead with Sunak as Prime Minister). But the problem runs deeper. The non-Corbynite majority of Labour MPs didnt have an alternative candidate either; hence their mood of gloom and fatalism. On the eve of his big speech, Keir Starmer showed his frustration at being constantly compared with two of his predecessors - Jeremy Corbyn and Tony Blair - and declined to say to which of them he was closer. Starmer turned in some more relaxed performances at Prime Ministers Questions, starting to look more confident and suggesting that he had finally got the measure of Johnson. Starmer has refused to cash in on the most visible sign of growing public discontent at Tory policies that continue to redistribute wealth upwards. A survey of party members in March this year found that Tony Blair was just as popular with them as Jeremy Corbyn. 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. Collapse. In the aftermath of the Autumn Budget, I imagine these numbers will be a relief to Starmer and his team. The Lib Dems are on 13% with the Greens on 6%. Politics. A backlash is coming. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Sunaks challenge will be to convince the country that its current problems lie more with global events than his own party, but that will be very, very hard given how strongly people feel about this. It wasnt just the Corbynites who were disillusioned with Starmer despairing Blairites who supported him confided sadly that they didnt think he was up to the job, and that the best the party could hope for was that he would be a transitional leader of the kind that Neil Kinnock had been. How Sir Keir Starmer's Labour would run a government From 'wealth' taxes to net zero, this is how the would-be PM may act should his party's huge opinion poll lead see them through an election While Starmer is seen as more austere, he has embraced the former PMs party financing strategy. 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 politics of selling it was always going to be a much tougher task. 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 . Does the public actually prefer Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer? Although they remain neck-and-neck on 38% each in the traditionally Conservative-voting Blue Wall, Starmer has opened up a lead of 7% in the Red Wall constituencies (three points lower than the 10-point margin he held at the end of January) and a 9% lead across the whole of Great Britain (three points more than at the end of January). Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, speaks at the National Farmers' Union (NFU) conference in Birmingham, UK, on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. 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 . . This, to me, points to a considerable reservoir of voter discontent with the available options on left and right.. 10. However, it is not all bad news for Starmer. 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. Correlations identify things people with a positive opinion of Keir Starmer are more likely to rate positively than the . The more he engages with people from the City, the more he feels comfortable with the vocabulary and the issues, a department head at an investment bank said. A by-election caused by Ms Cooper's decision would be the first major electoral test for Liz Truss since she entered No10. Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer at the Platinum Pageant for the Queen in London. None of this means Sunak is suddenly the effective and successful leader that the Tory party has lacked for so long. Labour holds a 10-point lead over the Conservatives as Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak attack each other in public but Sir Keir Starmers personal ratings have gone backwards. Labour extended its lead nationally to 27%, the widest margin it has held since Sunak became PM in October, while also opening up a lead of 28% in the Red Wall (another record lead . 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. The Labour leader has made a dirty word of socialism and shown that his own word counts for nothing. The following polls asked about voters' opinions on Rishi Sunak, leader of the Conservative Party since 24 October 2022 and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 25 October 2022. With such a worldview, he is beholden to the City, not ordinary people. This takeover of party machinery has crucially extended to the partys finances and fundraising efforts. UK Labour leader Starmer picks 'Partygate' investigator Sue Gray as X. Opinion polls show Labour with an average 8% lead over the Conservatives. He was previously Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.. Starmer was born in London and raised in Surrey, where he . Labour also still hold a lead of 10 points over the Conservatives in terms of overall voting intentions, broadly in line with our figures for June and likely to see the Labour party win a majority if an election were tomorrow.. Instead, she has frozen record high fuel bills, but it is taxpayers, not business, who will face the burden of repaying the 150bn ($170bn) costs further down the road. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. But allow some credit where it is due to Sunak. Keir Starmer picks Partygate investigator Sue Gray as chief of staff Nobody wants to see industrial action that is disruptive.. No one was ever charged with any wrongdoing. He has lots of experience. 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. More broadly, this will be central to boosting the nations productivity going forward. 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. Rishi Sunak is shaping up to be a prime minister Keir Starmer should be wary of. 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Instead, he has focused on reassuring voters - and the billionaire-owned media - that his party embodies the values associated with old-school conservatism: responsible belt-tightening, support for business, patriotism, law and order, the monarchy and militarism. At the same time, the Governments net competency rating is up in both the Red Wall and the Blue Wall, by three points to -35% in the Red Wall and by two points to -36% in the Blue Wall, respectively. 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). 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 . The king played his symbolic role. 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 . Blairs most important fundraiser during his premiership Michael Levy once referred to as Lord Cashpoint also has a role in tapping up wealthy donors. For Sunak personally, his approval rating, despite some fluctuations, ends February more or less where it was at the end of January. Rather than proposing investment, as previous Labour leaders have done, he has preferred to turn the tables on the Tories, accusing them ofrelying on a magic money tree. 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.. The damage done by the polarisation, recklessness, venality and destructiveness of the May-Johnson-Truss years casts long shadows that will shape the politics of this decade. The next election is expected in 2024, but it could be sooner if Liz Truss's huge tax giveaway backfiresmore than it already has. Recent polls also suggest the party has a clear double-digit lead in the 23 June byelection in Wakefield, the type of seat it will need to win back if it hopes to win a majority or form the government at the next election. 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. Labour leader Keir Starmer has demanded the Covid inquiry release findings by the end of the year amid fresh criticism of former Health Secretary . New polling shows that Muslims in the UK are losing faith in the Labour Party, driven partly by unfavourable views towards leader Keir Starmer. Latest news, analysis and comment on German politics and beyond. If Blairites are now on the rise once again in the Labour Party, what about the man himself? But its all part of a major play by the opposition to woo firms, while key moneymen from the Blair era are being tasked up with filling the partys coffers once again. LONDON Keir Starmer wants big business to "mold" Labour's election plans and get its "fingerprints" on his policy agenda. Which will be only too evident as he addresses Labours annual conference next week. As popular anger mounts, Starmers lack of vision for a sustainable future risks plunging parliamentary politics into even deeper crisis. 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. Advocacy group the Labour Muslim Network (LMN . Too soon for that. Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves have met hundreds of executives over the past year in what has been called the salmon and scrambled eggs offensive a riff on Blair and his own Chancellor Gordon Browns so-called prawn cocktail offensive of the 1990s. 2 March 2023. February was another good month of polling for the Labour Party and Keir Starmer, who ended January holding a 21% lead over the Conservatives. 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. 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. First poll of 2023 shows Rishi Sunak favourability at -29 . 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. 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. The man who would be Prime Minister addressed St. Columb's politics students and students from the . Rishi Sunak is shaping up to be a prime minister Keir Starmer should be wary of,Sunak's handling of the NI protocol suggests a leader - and a Tory party - with more left in the tank than some think, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle Time. 29 days ago . In-depth reporting, data and actionable intelligence for policy professionals all in one place. Latest UK Opinion Polls: Government approval recent changes. In his party conference speech in which Corbyn supporters were reduced to impotent heckling Starmer derided Johnson as a trivial politician; in the Commons, Starmer repeated the line the joke is wearing thin. Having dealt with the party machinery at the last conference, the plan was always that the next one will focus on setting out our plans for Britain. To find out more information about this research, As Sunak Heralds Protocol Deal, Majority of British Voters Remain Indifferent to Northern Ireland, Plurality of Britons Support Teachers Going on Strike, Latest Blue Wall Voting Intention (26 February 2023), Latest GB Voting Intention (26 February 2023), Britons and Americans Have Similar Views on Recent Chinese Spy Balloon Controversy, Britons Support Governments Ukraine Policy, But More Urgency on Domestic Challenges Needed, the announcement of a deal with the European Union, Sunak and Starmer Monthly Polling Report Card (February 2023), Joe Biden Administration Approval Ratings and Hypothetical Voting Intention (19 February 2023), Latest Red Wall Voting Intention (19 February 2023), Latest GB Voting Intention (18 February 2023), Peter Obi Leads Decisively in Nigeria Polling, Latest Blue Wall Voting Intention (11-12 February 2023). The Labour leader said he is glad the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is taking time to consider . Having endured a torrid few months, Rishi Sunak is at least ending February on a personal high. The appetite for a more radical approach to the Tory government has been highlighted by the rapid rise of Mick Lynch, leader of the striking Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT). . Keir Starmer blow as MP's shock resignation rocks Labour Party days That has included reneging on his commitment to take back into public ownership key utilities, including gas and electricity. Johnson was comprehensively outmanoeuvred. Starmers Labour increasingly looks like a pale replica of the modern Conservative Party, which publicly extols the virtues of unfettered markets while privately skewing the economic battle-space in big businesss favour - a covert socialism, but for the rich only. Worryingly for Rishi Sunak, only a minority of his own voters, 43%, back a Sunak-led government when it comes to managing the economy. Meanwhile, he has differentiated Labour simply by eschewing the more indefensible forms of predatory capitalism the current Conservative leadership embraces. burden of repaying the 150bn ($170bn) costs, Starmer has hollowed out left-wing politics in the UK, Palestinian and socialist groups further sidelined as Labour email comes to light, UK: Oxford students report racial profiling at event hosting Israeli ambassador. politics . But his U-turn looks all the more foolhardy given the current energy crisis and the Tory governments massive bailouts of suppliers. Lucy Powell described partygate investigator Sue Gray - who plans to join Labour as Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff - as "impartial" and "really good at her job". And, in a further nod to the business-friendly "New Labour" days of the 1990s and 2000s, he's even tapping Tony Blair's moneymen to fund his bid for power. For years, we shocked people with Corbyn as leader in the worst way possible and we now need to shock them in positive ways, the shadow Cabinet minister quoted earlier said. Labours registered donationsin 2022 equalled 21.34 million millions more than the rival Conservative Party, figures published Thursday show. Some opinion pollsters ask voters which party leader they would prefer as prime minister: Liz Truss (Conservative Party) or Keir Starmer (Labour Party).