Sir Keir Starmer has been warned his winter fuel payments U-turn may not be enough to win back voters. Polling expert Prof Sir John Curtice said “doubts have crept in” among Labour MPs over whether he is the right person to lead the party.

The Prime Minister last week announced that there would be a climbdown over the axing of winter fuel payments for most pensioners, which was widely blamed for Labour’s pummelling at the local elections. Prof Curtice said: “These things stick in the memory – so you can change the policy now and you can probably reduce the damage, but it’s difficult to erase some people’s memory.”

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His comments come as Angela Rayner yesterday insisted she “never” wants to be Prime Minister or leader of the Labour Party.

The Deputy Prime Minister was asked to rule herself out from the top job after being pressed on whether she leaked a memo she sent to Rachel Reeves suggesting tax rises.

Sir John said questions over Sir Keir’s leadership reflect the “nervousness that has now got into the Labour Party about Starmer and the character of his government, and certainly the party’s standing in the polls”.

He told The Independent: “The authority of prime ministers rests very heavily on their being thought to be a winner for their party.

“The problem that Starmer now has is that doubts have crept into [Labour MPs’] minds as to whether or not…he is going to be a winner in 2029.”

It comes as the Prime Minister is also said to be considering changes to welfare cuts planned by his Government amid the threat of a Labour rebellion.

He is also facing a challenge from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage who is moving to outflank him among Labour’s traditional working class supporters.

The latest YouGov poll put Reform in the lead, followed by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and then the Tories in a historic fourth place.