Almost half of UK voters say Labour has not produced clear policy ideas, poll finds

Almost half of voters think that Labour has not produced clear policy ideas, polling released shortly ahead of Keir Starmer’s speech to the party’s annual conference in Liverpool has found.

The research, carried out by Savanta before Labour’s conference began in Liverpool, found that just over a third of voters (35%) say the party has produced clear policy ideas while 46% said it had not – including 29% of those who supported Labour in the 2019 general election. Two-thirds (66%) of 2019 Tory voters said the same.

Seven in ten respondents (71%) told Savanta that they support Labour’s plan to freeze energy bills over the winter, funded through an expanded windfall tax on oil and gas companies. 48% also said they party has responded well to the cost-of-living crisis. Just 28% of voters said the same of the Conservatives.

The Labour leader’s net favourability rating, according to Savanta’s political tracker, now stands at +6. This is up from -10 in June and voters preferred Starmer over Liz Truss when asked who would make the best Prime Minister (37% to 35%).

Four out of every five (79%) who reported that they are currently intending on voting Labour at the next general election said the Labour leader would make the best Prime Minister, 11% said they did not know and 10% preferred Truss.

A quarter (25%) of UK voters told researchers that they like both Starmer and his policies, while the same proportion (25%) reported that they dislike the Labour leader and his policies, a drop of seven points since August.

Commenting on the findings, political research director at Savanta Chris Hopkins said: “This conference has felt crucial for Starmer, and his keynote speech today is an opportunity to make his pitch to the nation that he and his party have the answers to lead the country through the economic crisis it finds itself in.

“The Conservative Party under Liz Truss’ premiership have made the dividing lines crystal clear when it comes to its economic policy. While Labour is traditionally not trusted with the country’s finances to the same extent as the Conservatives, these clear ideological differences between the two parties present an opportunity for Starmer and Labour to reverse its perception of economic incompetence and present an alternative to the brand of trickle-down ‘Trussonomics’ being pursued by the government.”

According to MRP polling, commissioned by LabourList and carried out by Savanta, Labour would win a 56-seat majority if a general election were held now – securing 353 seats with current a 12-point lead over the Conservatives.

The model suggested that the Tories would lose 146 constituencies and return 211 MPs to parliament, that the SNP would secure 48 seats (+4), the Lib Dems 15 (+1), Plaid Cymru three (+-) and the Greens one (+-).

45% of people reported that they would back Starmer’s Labour Party in a general election compared to 33% who said the same of the Conservatives. 10% said they would vote Lib Dem, 3% Reform and 4% said they would support the Green Party.