𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

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 Chancellor Rachel Reeves had hinted at income tax rises but then backed down.

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 breaking a 2024 manifesto promise not to raise taxes on working people.

The final embarrassment of 2025 came with inheritance tax changes for farmers. The Government decided to end the 100% tax relief in place since the 1980s, but has raised the planned threshold from £1million to £2million after an excoriating backlash.

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.