Only a quarter of voters believe Sir Keir Starmer has presented a clear vision of what Labour stands for 12 months after becoming leader, according to a new poll for The Independent.
Marking the one-year anniversary of his emphatic victory in the contest to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, the survey shows that nearly half of those who voted Conservative in 2019 are yet to be persuaded that the Labour Party is now more electable.
The Savanta ComRes poll, published today, shows the Labour leader also has a significant task in articulating a “credible economic alternative” ahead of the next election, with a third of respondents saying he has done badly on this metric.
It comes amid concerns over the direction of the party in recent weeks as the Tories continue to enjoy a sizeable poll lead – something Sir Keir has attributed to a “vaccine bounce” which has boosted support for Boris Johnson.
Speaking recently, Sir Keir suggested that in a crisis, people tend to “gravitate towards their government”, but conceded that more had to be done to win support among the public, adding: “We’ve got to do better as a Labour Party … we’ve got a job and a half to do.”
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Just last week, Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, was scathing in his assessment of the Labour leader’s first year in office, claiming in an article for The Independent that the party was suffering from a “lack of authenticity”, with voters unsure who it represents.
Chris Hopkins, associate director at Savanta, said the data reflected a “perceived lack of vision”, with the poll suggesting just 27 per cent believe Sir Keir has done a good or very good job at presenting a clear vision of what Labour stands for, as opposed to 35 per cent who believe he has done badly. A further 29 per cent said they didn’t know.
The survey shows slightly more people (33 per cent) believe the Labour leader has done badly at making the party more electable over the last year than believe he has done well (30 per cent).
When broken down into those who voted Conservative in the 2019 election, who will be critical for Labour’s chances in 2024, the results are more concerning: almost half (48 per cent) said he has done a bad job, compared with 21 per cent who believe he has done well.
It also suggests just 29 per cent see the Labour leader as “inspirational” – compared to 36 per cent for Boris Johnson – while less than a third view Sir Keir as “bold” (significantly fewer than the 51 per cent who would describe the prime minister as such).
Perhaps in better news for Sir Keir, the poll shows only 32 per cent believe he is “London-centric”, compared with a majority (53 per cent) for Mr Johnson. The prime minister is also viewed by 42 per cent as “untrustworthy”, with only 31 per cent believing the same of Sir Keir.
On presenting a “credible economic alternative”, over a third (36 per cent) said Labour had done a bad job in the last year, while 23 per cent said either very good or quite good. Among those who voted Tory in 2019, over half said Sir Keir had done badly.
However, comparing the Labour leader with his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, 36 per cent of respondents said they were now more likely to vote for the party, with one in five saying they were less likely. By a small margin, those polled suggested the leader had done well, rather than badly, at improving the party’s image over the past year: 34 per cent vs 31 per cent. A majority of those who voted Labour in 2019 (53 per cent) agreed he had improved the party’s image, compared to 22 per cent who disagreed.
Mr Hopkins added: “While many 2019 Labour voters feel he’s done well in most metrics, shoring up their 2019 vote isn’t going to be enough for Labour to eat into the Conservative majority at the next election, and Sir Keir really needs to start attracting those who voted Conservative [in 2019].
“Among these, a third (30%) say he’s done a good job at improving Labour’s image, which is encouraging (despite more saying he’s done a bad job), but just a fifth of 2019 Conservative voters say he’s done a good job at making Labour electable (versus half who say he’s done a bad job), and just one in six Conservatives say he’s done a good job at presenting a clear vision of what Labour stands for.”
He added: “While the pandemic has presented many challenges for Labour’s message to cut through, clearly much more work needs to be done to combat the increased Conservative popularity off the back of a successful vaccination rollout.”
