Sir Keir Starmer is reported to be urging his party colleagues to ignore a series of dismal polls which have come out under his leadership.
The PM is said to be trying to rally his party in the wake of dismal polls (Image: PA )
A squirming Sir Keir Starmer has urged his senior Labour colleagues to ignore dismal poll ratings as a new survey shows the party languishing behind the Conservatives for the first time since the general election. The research from YouGov for The Times shows Labour in third place with just 17%, with the Tories in second and Reform UK in the lead.
Nigel Farage’s party have been storming the polls for months now and this one was no different showing the light blue of Reform UK with 26% of the voting intention among more than 2,300 adults surveyed on January 3 and 4. But what will also be alarming for the Labour hierarchy was this time the Conservatives also overtook Labour with 19% of those polled saying they would consider voting for Kemi Badenoch’s party. Sir Keir has already had to face down rumours of revolt within Labour and talk of potential leadership challengers from Health Secretary Wes Streeting and former Deputy PM, Angela Rayner.
Both Mr Streeting and Ms Rayner have publicly denied they want the top job.
At the first Cabinet meeting of 2026, Sir Keir tried to dismiss the worrying polling trends, which if replicated, could lead to Labour being decimated at the local elections in May.
Starmer called for Cabinet discipline and a focus on tackling the cost of living in the first meeting of his top team in a potentially critical year for his premiership. He told his senior ministers that their challenge for 2026 is to show “hard work, focus and determination” in helping to ease the financial burden on households.
With Labour facing a difficult set of elections in England, Scotland and Wales in May, the Prime Minister is under pressure to show results.
Sir Keir met with his senior colleagues at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (Image: PA )
He told his colleagues at the meeting in Downing Street today (Tuesday): “I do not underestimate the scale of the task. But I have no doubt about this team. Governments do not lose because polls go down. They lose when they lose belief or nerve. We will do neither.”
The political part of the meeting took place after an official Cabinet meeting, with civil servants present, that lasted less than 10 minutes.
The latest poll by The Times showed the Liberal Democrats on 16%, one point ahead of The Greens with 15%.
