The Conservatives have dropped to their lowest rating since Liz Truss was Prime Minister, losing -3 points over the last two weeks and giving Labour a lead of +17 (25% vs 42%), according to Opinium’s latest poll.
However, not everybody in the Labour party will be celebrating, as Keir Starmer’s approval rating dropped -10 points, giving him a -14% net approval (26% approve vs 39% disapprove). This is the worst approval rating Opinium has recorded for Starmer since he became Labour leader.
Starmer’s popularity among current Labour voters has dropped from +52% net approval to +38%. Among current Liberal Democrat voters, he has gone from +/-0% to -13%.
Meanwhile Rishi Sunak’s approval rating remains unchanged, with a net disapproval rating of -26% (24% approve, 50% disapprove). Starmer continues to lead over Sunak 27% to 24% on who would be the best Prime Minister.
Love the policy, hate the argument?
Starmer has spent much of the last week and a half embroiled in arguments about retaining the child benefit cap – which the majority of voters (57%) support his position on, compared to just over a quarter (29%) who oppose it.
Among Labour voters, 55% support the policy and 32% oppose it.
Inheritance tax seen as too high, but other taxes seen as fairer to cut
Just under half of UK adults (46%) think that inheritance tax is too high compared to only 13% who think it is too low. Similarly, 46% think if the government chooses to cut taxes, it would be fair to cut inheritance tax while only 26% think it would be unfair.
However, there are 6 other taxes that the public think it would be fairer to cut, including council tax (64%), VAT (59%), fuel duty (58%), basic rate of income tax (56%) and national insurance (52%).
Despite government figures showing that only 4% of estates incur inheritance tax, a third (34%) of UK adults believe they and their family would benefit from the abolition of inheritance tax, including two in five (39%) 2019 Conservative voters.
Adam Drummond, head of political and social research at Opinium said: “In a bruising week for the Conservatives, the party finds itself at its lowest share of the vote since the resignation of Liz Truss, dashing increasingly desperate hopes of a recovery under Rishi Sunak.
“However, the big hit on Keir Starmer’s personal ratings from a row over benefit cuts and a successful exploitation of Labour weaknesses in Uxbridge by London Conservatives suggest there are chinks in the armour for the Opposition.”
