Labour enjoys a post-conference lead in the polls not seen since the late 1990s

YouGov published explosive findings last night. According to the pollster, Labour has a 33-point lead over the Conservatives – which is the party’s best showing in a poll since the late 1990s. The research indicates that Labour would take 54% of the vote, the Tories 21%, the Lib Dems 7%, the Greens 6% and the SNP 5%. We can (and should) add all caveats as ever with polling – it is only a snapshot etc etc – but this is a truly staggering lead. And the YouGov poll, although predicting the largest lead, is not alone in painting a rosy picture for Labour: Survation puts the lead at 21 points, Deltapoll 19 points and Redfield & Wilton 17 points.

The positive polling comes after Keir Starmer had a very good time at Labour’s annual conference; the annual fixture went off without any major scandal for the Labour leader, and Starmer delivered a leader’s speech largely well received by his critics and fans alike. Progressive Britain’s Tom Collinge wrote that the agenda set out was one that “most wings of the party can engage with”. Seemingly in agreement, Momentum co-chair Kate Dove argued that – in order for Starmer to lay out a compelling alternative to the Conservatives – it was “to the left that he turned”. (She did also add that “Keir must go further and we must push him”.)

Labour is undoubtedly benefitting from the economic chaos being caused by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng. YouGov’s poll shows, however, that Conservative voters are not just abandoning the Tories but switching to Labour – 17% of 2019 voters who backed Boris Johnson told YouGov that they would vote Labour. Some have pointed to the sharp rise in Labour’s fortunes as a direct response to Starmer’s proposal to create a publicly owned energy company. Numerous polls have shown that public ownership is popular – both with Conservative voters as well as Labour – and it looks like a policy aimed at bringing down energy bills while helping combat the climate emergency has gone down well with the public.

Also on LabourList today, we have an interesting piece from Mary Robertson, head of economic policy for Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, who takes a look under the bonnet of Starmer’s ‘Great British Energy’ plan, writing: “As encouraging as it is to hear public ownership back in Labour’s lexicon, GBE falls far short of what the public and the planet need.”