Kwasi Kwarteng has hit a record low of nearly 50 years for Chancellors after his mini-budget mayhem, a new poll revealed on Friday.
As he flew home early from Washington for crisis talks with Liz Truss, the Ipsos survey for the Standard showed 65 per cent of adults in Britain are dissatisfied with him, and just 12 per cent satisfied, giving him a net rating of -53 just over a month into the job.
No other Chancellor has had a worse rating even as far back as when Denis Healey was at the Treasury helm in 1976, the year that the Labour government had to beg the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.
Mr Kwarteng’s net satisfaction figure is on the same level as Norman Lamont’s of -52 in March 1993, around six months after Black Wednesday when the Government was forced to withdraw sterling from the Exchange Rate Mechanism, and Ken Clarke’s of -53 in December 1994, when quarterly unemployment averaged 2.5 million.
The findings came as Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng face the threat of a major revolt by Tory MPs unless they restore confidence in the public finances and calm the markets by at the latest the Chancellor’s new fiscal statement due on October 31.
Pressure is growing for them to act far more quickly, with speculation rife that Mr Kwarteng will be forced to raise corporation tax from 19p in another humiliating U-turn, having already had to ditch his plan to axe the 45p top rate of income tax.
Ministers have sought to play down the impact of the mini-budget on September 23 which led to the pound nosediving, before recovering, a pension fund crisis which forced the Bank of England to intervene, pushed up the cost of Government borrowing, and triggered rises in mortgage rates.
But even once taking into account the £60 billion energy bills support package in the fiscal statement, more than half of adults believe that overall it will leave them out of pocket, with a third saying it will make little difference and just ten per cent expecting to be better off.
In particular, mortgage holders (61 per cent), the middle aged (64 per cent of 35-54 year olds), public sector workers (70 per cent), and those without qualifications (63 per cent) expect to be worse off.
Out of the overall 56 per cent who think they will lose out from the mini-budget, 65 per cent blame the Government a great deal, and 19 per cent a fair amount.
The poll also showed:
- Labour on 47 per cent, up seven points on last month, the Conservatives on 26 per cent, down four points, and Liberal Democrats on ten per cent, down three points.
- Labour’s 21-point lead is its highest in an Ipsos poll since October 2002, though its methodology has changed over the years.
- Labour has its highest vote share since November 2012, and the Conservatives their lowest since June 2019.
- One in five 2019 Conservative voters now say they have switched to Labour.
- 67 per cent of adults are dissatisfied with Ms Truss, up 38 points on last month, with 16 per cent satisfied, down 11 points, and 17 per cent say they “don’t know”, down 27 points.
- Her net satisfaction score of -51 is worse than the lowest scores for Boris Johnson (-46), Theresa May (-44), David Cameron (-38) and Tony Blair (-44).
- It is similar to Gordon Brown during the 2007/08 financial crisis (-51), but not as bad as John Major (-59) or Margaret Thatcher (-56). But no PM has fallen to this low level so quickly.
- Current Conservative voters are split over Ms Truss’ performance, with 40 per cent satisfied and 39 per cent dissatisfied. The majority (56 per cent) of 2019 Conservative voters are dissatisfied.
- While Sir Keir Starmer’s ratings are improving, they are not soaring despite the Government’s woes. Thirty-eight per cent per cent of voters are satisfied with him, up seven points on last month, 39 per ent dissatisfied, down six points.
- His net satisfaction of -1 is his highest score since February last year when it was +5.
- His satisfaction ratings among Labour supporters have risen 11 points to 61 per cent.
- Four in five adults are dissatisfied with the Government, up ten points, while just 11 per cent are satisfied. down nine points.
- This net satisfaction score of -69 is similar to the worst under Johnson of -67, but not as bad as under Major (-78) and May (-77), but worse than under Cameron (-45), Brown (-62), Blair (-47) and Thatcher (-63).
Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research for Ipsos UK, said: “The fallout from the mini-budget continues for the Prime Minister and Chancellor.
“While at first the public was reserving judgement, the danger for both of them is that in only their second month those early impressions have rapidly become much more negative.”
He added: “Even in our long-term trends going back over the decades there are few Prime Ministers (and no Chancellors) with worse scores, and none that have deteriorated so quickly.
“Underpinning this is the poor reaction to their economic policies, which many think will leave them worse off during high levels of concern about the cost of living, and for which the Government is being held increasingly responsible – and from which Labour is benefiting.”
Seven out of ten adults expect the economy to get worse over the next year, and just 16 per cent predict it will improve, with 11 per cent expecting it to stay the same, figures virtually unchanged from last month.
