Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Government’s approval ratings collapse to even greater depths
Many of Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves’s policies have been controversial (Image: Getty)
You might not have thought Labour could’ve been more unpopular – but Sir Keir Starmer’s party has plunged to a new low with its worst-ever approval rating. The popularity of the incumbents has steadily declined since the 2024 General Election, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer forced into a series of humiliating U-turns on controversial policies.
The net rating now stands at -59, with 70% disapproving of the Government and just 11% approving, with 19% saying they don’t know. And it could sink even deeper, with YouGov’s latest poll taking place on January 5, before the latest pubs tax U-turn debacle. Pollster More in Common has also shared a devastating new graph showing that Labour is losing nearly half of its voters from the 2024 General Election.
Even more worryingly, it is losing backing to both parties on the Left and Right, with 11% of 2024 Labour voters saying they will vote for Nigel Farage’s Reform and 8% saying they now support the Liberal Democrats.
It has also lost 8% of voters to the Greens, but 11% who say they don’t know who they’ll support are believed to be more Left-leaning.
It comes after a tumultuous period for Labour, during which it has repeatedly changed course on key policies and is said by many to have broken manifesto commitments.
Its first major decision, to cut winter fuel payments to most pensioners, was reversed amid an enormous public backlash. The vast majority of pensioners now remain eligible.
Cuts to disability benefits in a bid to slash Britain’s swollen welfare bill were humiliatingly abandoned in the wake of furious opposition from Labour MPs.
The party also announced an end to the two-child benefit cap in November’s Budget, despite suspending seven party MPs who previously voted in favour of scrapping it.
The autumn financial statement itself was widely regarded as a farce, as
Her decision to freeze the thresholds at which taxpayers pay higher-rate levies – dragging more people into the top bands – is seen by many as
The final embarrassment of 2025 came with
The latest climbdown is on business rates, which many pubs said would have landed them with bills of thousands of pounds and forced some to close.
