More than half of voters think Liz Truss should resign as Prime Minister and 80% blame the Government for the rising cost of living, a new poll has found. In the poll conducted over the weekend, 53% of people told Ipsos that Ms Truss should quit and only 20% would oppose her resignation.
In the months before he resigned, Boris Johnson recorded similar figures, ranging between 50% and 59% of people saying he should go over the course of 2022. The poll, which surveyed 1,000 British adults between October 14 and 17, found just 13% of people believed Ms Truss was likely to win the next election – less than half of the 30% that thought Mr Johnson could win shortly before he resigned.
The figures come as Ms Truss faces her third clash with Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, in what could be her toughest encounter with the Labour leader yet after Jeremy Hunt ripped up her economic policy on Monday. Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos, said: “The challenges continue for Liz Truss and the Conservative Party, with falling public confidence in both her political leadership and in the Government’s economic plans (while as many think she should resign as though Boris Johnson should go in his final months).”
The Government has previously sought to blame global conditions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the UK’s economic difficulties. But the Ipsos poll found that 80% of people thought Government policies had contributed to the rising cost of living, the same proportion that said the war in Ukraine had been a factor.
Some 79% of people said the state of the global economy had also contributed, while nearly two-thirds thought Brexit had played a role. Adding to the Prime Minister’s problems, only 14% expect that the new Chancellor will change the economy for the better.
Some 35% said Jeremy Hunt’s appointment would make no difference, while 27% thought it would change things for the worse. Mr Skinner said: “Although Britons are reserving judgment on Jeremy Hunt so far, given growing pessimism about the state of the economy they will be looking for signs he can make a positive impact soon.”
The only positive note for the Conservatives was that the public is still divided over whether Labour has a good plan for the economy. Some 40% said they were confident that the opposition had a good long-term economic plan, while 47% said they were not confident.
However, just 17% said they were confident in the Conservatives’ long-term economic plan compared to 74% saying they were no confident.
