Government approval ratings plunge for fifth successive week as Keir Starmer surges in YouGov poll

Labour leader has 'landed well' with public since taking over from Jeremy Corbyn, says pollster

Fewer than a third of voters now approve of the performance of Boris Johnson’s government, after its ratings fell for a fifth week in succession, according to a new poll.

Just 32 per cent of those questioned by pollsters YouGov said the government was doing well (down three points on last week) against 49 per cent who disapprove of it.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Keir Starmer has overhauled Mr Johnson on voter satisfaction.

Almost half (48 per cent) said Starmer was doing well - up eight points on a month ago - against 21 per cent saying he was doing badly.

By contrast, the proportion saying Johnson was doing well fell by 14 points over the month to 43 per cent, with 50 per cent (up 15 points) saying he was doing badly.

Two months after succeeding Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, Starmer appeared to have “landed well with the public” and to be outperforming his own party, said YouGov’ political research manager Chris Curtis.

Some 40 per cent said he looked like a prime minister-in-waiting, against 32 per cent who think he does not.

But more than half (51 per cent) said Labour was not ready for power, compared to little more than a quarter (26 per cent) who said it was.

Labour had overtaken the Tories since April on measures of whether it is seen as “trying to the right thing”, being in touch with ordinary people and being tolerant.

And it was gaining ground in the traditional Conservative strong points of having a clear sense of purpose and being strong, competent, moderate and trustworthy, where Mr Johnson’s party still led.

Mr Curtis said that some of the slump in government approval is likely to be due to its handling of coronavirus. The poll was taken after a period of controversy over Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings’ lockdown breach and amid teething troubles with the test and trace programme.

Britain is now bottom of the company’s international league table in terms of public perception of government management of the crisis.

But Mr Curtis added: “Part of this is just an inevitable return to normality.

Keir Starmer appears to have 'landed well' with public, said YouGov (Reuters TV)

“The government’s approval ratings looked unsustainably high at the start of the coronavirus crisis, given this is a metric that has sat in negative territory for almost all of the past two decades.

“The approval rating is still higher than it was when the government won the general election back in December, and it mostly falls down party lines, with 66 per cent of Conservative voters approving and 83 per cent of Labour voters disapproving.

“But the direction of travel will be worrying for those in Downing Street, particularly given the difficult and potentially unpopular decisions they have to make over the coming weeks and months.”

On the polling of party strengths, Mr Curtis said things appeared to be “returning back to normal” with Labour increasingly perceived as the “nice party who want to help improve people’s lives”, and Conservatives as “the one with the leadership skills necessary to run the country”.

“In most elections, the latter has beaten the former,” he said.

“So while many within the Labour party might be content with the drop in government approval and the increased popularity of their leader, there is clearly still a big job to in overcoming the weaknesses in the Labour brand.”

YouGov polled 1,666 British adults between 6 and 8 June.