Starmer and Reeves will enter the new year as the least popular occupants of their respective positions, as allies describe the PM’s leadership as “failing”.
Starmer & Reeves could be in trouble (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer will see out the year with data showing he is officially the most unpopular prime minister in British history, with as the country’s least favourite Chancellor.
Opinion pollsters have revealed that there is “surprising” level of dislike for the embattled pair, with one pollster saying there was a “loathing” of both of them.
Luke Tryl, from the organisation More in Common, confirmed that focus groups thought ill of the Prime Minister, saying people said that “Starmer is a liar” and that he “only said what he thought he needed to say to get elected”.
Meanwhile the Chancellor was seen as “uncaring” with focus group attendees saying she was “targeting people who can’t fight back”.
Mr Tryl was speaking to the Financial Times, when he gave his damning review of what Britons really think of the PM and his Chancellor.
Speaking to the same publication, another pollster who was not named said that Starmer was “rather dull” but managed to “generate remarkable levels of hate”.
Even leaders in the trade union movement, long seen as stalwarts of Labour support, have turned on the Prime Minister. Sharon Grahan, boss of the Unite union, which gave over £500,000 to Labour MPs in 2024, wrote in a national newspaper that Sir Starmer’s leadership was “failing”.
Since he walked into Number 10, Starmer’s net favourability has dropped from 0 to minus 45. Data even shows that he is the second most unpopular European leader, missing out on the ‘top’ spot to Emmanual Macron.
His approval rating currently stands at -66 as of November, and it the lowest one ever since records began. Tony Blair stood on -44. Ms Reeves struggles on -60, making her the least popular chancellor, second only to Kwasi Kwarteng.
Mr Tryl argued that they have become a “vessel for people’s disappointment” over things from living standards to public services. He added that since 2024 “things have not got better at any real pace and that disappointment has bubbled up into real anger”.
Sir Keir and his Chancellor, Ms Reeves, have overseen a wide range of unpopular policies that have provoked anger across the country.
They include increasing employers’ national insurance contributions, despite his party pledging not to raise taxes on ‘working people’ on 52 occasions during the general election last year.
Alongside this was the ‘Family Farm Tax’ which saw protests in central London and across the United Kingdom as the Labour government pushed farms into tax for the first time.
He also changed the Winter Fuel Payment soon after entering office, which would have seen more than 10 million pensioners lose the payment after it became means-tested.
Sir Keir u-turned on the police following widespread political pressure, and even a campaign by the Daily Express newspaper.
Later his Chancellor, Ms Reeves, flip-flopped on the two-child benefit cap, having previously vowed to keep it in place, only to change her mind less than a year later.
The pair, who have been dogged by poor polling and controversial policies, now enter the new year as the least popular occupants of their respective offices in British history.
