By Nick Gutteridge
Sir Keir Starmer has suffered a sharp slump in popularity after criticism of his handling of the riots that have hit Britain.
New polling for The Telegraph shows the Prime Minister’s approval ratings have plummeted in the fortnight since the far-Right unrest broke out, revealing that the proportion of voters with a “strongly unfavourable” view of him rose by six points after the first week of violence.
Sir Keir has been criticised over his slow response to the unrest, including a decision not to hold a Cobra meeting until a week after the disorder first began.
Since then, he has also faced accusations, including from Elon Musk, the US tech entrepreneur, that he has overseen “two-tier” policing of the violence.
Sir Paul Stephenson, a former Metropolitan Police commissioner, has said he was “not impressed” by Sir Keir’s response, suggesting that it had prioritised tough language over action.
Before the violence broke out, the Prime Minister had been enjoying a honeymoon period, with his personal approval ratings soaring after his landslide election win last month ended 14 years of Tory rule.
Savanta recorded his highest approval rating of +15 on July 28, a day before the first riot erupted following the Southport knife attack. But by Aug 4 that had slumped to plus four, taking him back to the sort of ratings he had before the election.
Chris Hopkins, the political research director at Savanta, said: “Starmer’s popularity appears to have rebounded back to Earth after the post-election honeymoon period.
“With violent disorder spreading across the UK, his favourability among the public is the lowest it’s been since the election. It remains to be seen whether his response to the riots has a long-term impact on his standing with voters.”
The polling showed that the proportion of voters who have a strongly unfavourable view of Sir Keir rose from 16 per cent to 22 per cent.
Luke Tryl, the UK director of More in Common, a think tank, said the polling suggested that voters felt the Prime Minister’s response to the riots had not been tough enough.
“This is a pretty bad sign for Starmer, given that you might expect a ‘back the Government’ moment in times like this and suggests a much more visibly muscular response will be needed,” he said. “What is clear from the rest of the polling is people have no sympathy with the rioters and want a robust response to tackle them.”
It comes after a separate YouGov poll found that 49 per cent of voters think Sir Keir has handled the riots badly, compared to 31 per cent who think he has done well. It showed that 52 per cent think his response has not been tough enough, compared to 24 per cent saying it has been “about right”.
However, he is still the most popular politician in the country and the only one to hold a positive approval rating, according to Savanta.
Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, is the second best thought of with a rating of minus one, with Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, on -19 and Rishi Sunak, the Tory leader, on -31.
Sir Keir is also more popular than his Cabinet. The rating of his deputy, Angela Rayner, is minus four, while Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, and Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, are on minus five.
• Nick Gutteridge, Chief Political Correspondent of The Telegraph
Source: The Telegraph
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