Labour Party ends year with 26-point lead over Conservatives, polling finds

Research published as a disastrous year for the Tories draws to an end has shown that Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has a 26-point poll lead over the Conservatives.

According to the People Polling survey, commissioned by GB News and published on Thursday, 45% of people reported that they would back Labour in a general election. Just 19% told the pollster that they would vote Conservative.

The research, which surveyed 1,169 British adults, found that 9% of people would vote for the Green Party at an election, 8% would back the Lib Dems and 8% would support Nigel Farage’s Reform party.

The poll also found little confidence in the country’s third Conservative Prime Minister this year and his cabinet to tackle the cost-of-living crisis; just 4% said they were “completely” or “fairly” confident that the government could reduce the cost of living in 2023. 70% said they were not confident at all.

Among Conservative Party voters, 53% said they are not confident at all. This figure rose to 90% for Labour voters. 2% of Tory voters told researchers that they are completely confident the government can reduce the cost of living next year.

60% of respondents said they expect 2023 to be worse for them and their family’s financial situation and, when asked about the word that first comes to mind when thinking about the year ahead in Britain, the five most popular terms were “difficult”, “tough”, “challenging”, “bleak”, and “worrying”.

Commenting on the poll, politics professor Matt Goodwin argued that Starmer and his party will “begin 2023 in prime position, with more than enough support for a majority at the next general election”.

“This is more bad news for Rishi Sunak and his team. The party’s recovery has not just stalled but now appears to be going backwards,” he said.

“Whatever Rishi Sunak does next, he’d better do it quick because the clock is now ticking, and he and his party are well behind.”

Sunak became Prime Minister in October after a tumultuous year for the Tories. Boris Johnson resigned from No 10 following numerous scandals. His replacement, Liz Truss, announced a controversial ‘mini-Budget’ that saw the pound crash to an historic low and interest rates soar and resigned after 44 days.