Quarter of voters regret backing Sir Keir Starmer and winter fuel axe ‘worse than Partygate’, poll for LBC shows

6 January 2025, 07:02

By Natasha Clark

@NatashaC

One in four voters who backed Labour last year now regrets it, a new poll for LBC reveals.

More than half (56 per cent) of all voters now have a lower opinion of Sir Keir Starmer’s government after six months in power, damning research by More in Common shows.

The public also see taking away winter fuel payments from some pensioners and slapping extra inheritance taxes on farmers is on a par with the ‘partygate’ scandal under the Tories.

It comes as the PM heads back for a new term in Westminster today with a landmark speech on how he will drive down waiting lists and help get the NHS back on its feet.

But LBC’s polling shows the uphill struggle he faces to prove to the public he can deliver on the change he promised last year.

It reveals:

• 1 in 4 Labour voters regret the decision to vote for them
• 56% of voters now have a lower opinion of Sir Keir and the government after six months in power
• The public think Labour have made 3 decisions that were more damaging to the party than Partygate was for the Conservatives; taking Winter Fuel Allowance from pensioners (51% vs 16%), changing Inheritance Tax on Farms (36% vs 24%), and not compensating WASPI women  for pension changes (31% vs 22%)
• The majority of voters (54 per cent) are pessimistic that Labour can deliver the change they promised in the election

However, voters are divided on what the focus for his government should be, as the PM enters his first full year in office.

Voters say their top issues are the NHS (26%), the economy (26 per cent) and migration (20 per cent).

Labour and the PM’s approval ratings have plummeted in opinion polls since taking over from Rishi Sunak last July.

At the end of the year, Sir Keir revealed his six milestones in a bid to show voters the change he hopes to deliver in office.

They included putting more money into people’s pockets, building 1.5million homes, and recruiting 13,000 more police officers and PCSOs.

Included was also a vow to treat 92 per cent of NHS patients within 18 weeks – a target many experts said was too ambitious to be met.

Today the PM will set out a new plan for how he will do this with a speech in the South East of England.

Our LBC poll by More in Common shows that so far, three in four people (75%) have experienced no improvement in the NHS since Labour took office.

More say it’s got worse (35%) than got better (20%).

And outside of London, the government faces more of a challenge too.

One in three Londoners say they’ve seen NHS improvements, compared to just 12 per cent in the North West.

As part of the PM’s NHS drive, by March 2025, patients at 85% of trusts will be able to use the NHS app to view appointment information as part of a huge expansion of their digital services.

Ministers want patients to be able to contact their treatment provider of choice at the touch of a button, and get clear and regular updates to their smart phones.

Most patients have to wait for their test results over the phone or by letter, but soon the app will be able to provide them to more people, quicker, the government says.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting said: “If the wealthy can choose where and when they are treated, then working class patients should be able to as well, and this government will give them that choice.

“Our plan will reform the NHS, so patients are fully informed every step of the way through their care, they are given proper choice to go to a different provider for a shorter wait, and put in control of their own healthcare.

“This government’s reform agenda will take the NHS from a one size fits all, top down, ‘like it or lump it’ service, to a modern service that puts patients in the driving seat and treats them on time – delivering on our Plan for Change to drive a decade of national renewal.

“By bringing our analogue NHS into the digital age, we will cut waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks and give working class patients the same choice, control, and convenience as the wealthy receive.”