Rishi Sunak disembarks a plane at Riga International Airport, in Latvia
(Picture: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)The Conservatives’ reputation as the best party for economic growth has nosedived as Britons face a wave of tax hikes and “Winter of Discontent” strikes, a new poll revealed on Monday.
The Ipsos survey for the Standard showed 29 per cent of adults naming the Tories as the party they trust most to grow the economy, a fall of 13 points since September before the mini-Budget.
The decline in trust saw the Conservatives lose their lead on this question, putting them neck-and-neck with Labour, having been ahead throughout this year and in November 2013 when it was also asked.
The findings come as Britain is being hit by strikes, stealth and other tax rises in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s November Autumn Statement to stabilise the public finances, and the turmoil sparked by his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget said by experts to still be harming the economy.
The poll’s other key findings include:
- The Tories have dropped six points from last month to 23 per cent on Westminster voting intentions, with Labour on 49 per cent, down one point, with the Liberal Democrats up six points to 13 per cent.
- Just one in five voters believes the Conservatives deserve to be re-elected.
- 47 per cent say Labour is ready for government, matching its October score and its best since going into Opposition.
- Rishi Sunak’s net satisfaction rating has dropped from minus eight in November to -21, after the number dissatisfied jumped 12 points to 49 per cent, with 28 per cent satisfied.
- The Prime Minister has also seen a seven point jump in Tory supporters dissatisfied with him, up from 12 per cent to 19 per cent, but 64 per cent are still satisfied, giving him a net score of +45, compared to +26 for Sir Keir Starmer among Labour voters.
- The Labour leader’s satisfaction rating among all voters is unchanged on November, with 36 per cent satisfied, 42 per cent dissatisfied, giving him a net score of minus six.
- Sir Keir has fallen back on several questions since September including being good in a crisis (-10), having sound judgement (-6), understanding Britain’s problems (-8), personality (-5), being patriotic (-7).
- However, Labour is now most trusted as the party to deal with the cost-of-living crisis by twice as many voters, 37 per cent compared to 19 per cent for the Tories.
- Labour is significantly ahead on immigration, with 28 per cent citing it as the most trusted party and 19 per cent the Conservatives, down six point.
Mr Sunak is ahead of Sir Keir on being “good in a crisis”, by 29 per cent to 18 per cent.
But the Prime Minister is seen as out of touch with ordinary people by 63 per cent of adults, compared to 33 per cent for the Labour leader.
Sir Keir scores better on being more honest than most politicians, 35 per cent compared to Mr Sunak’s 25 per cent.
But the PM is ahead on being a good representative for Britain on the world stage by 36 per cent to 29 per cent.
The two leaders are level pegging on being a capable leader, and being patriotic.
Sir Keir is narrowly ahead on having sound judgement, 34 per cent to 31 per cent.
However, Mr Sunak has a bigger lead on having a lot of personality, though both have low scores, 24 per cent to 18 per cent respectively.
Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos, said: “As we go into Christmas there’s little sign of any significant honeymoon for Rishi Sunak in these figures.
“His personal ratings are down – before recent occupants of No10 it was rare for Prime Ministers to be in negative territory so early on in their tenure – while Labour continue to hold a substantial lead in voting intentions.
“Keir Starmer’s personal scores are mixed and there is not much to choose between him and the Conservative leader on many leader attributes, but despite this Britons are more inclined to see Labour as ready for government than during most of the last 10 years.
“Underpinning much of this are voters’ views on the economy and cost of living, which have been top of their agenda for most of 2022.
“The challenge for the Conservatives going into 2023 is that they still haven’t regained public confidence on these key issues, nor in other important areas like public services and immigration – and looking ahead few think the party deserves to be re-elected.”
