Andy Burnham approval drops among Labour members – exclusive poll

Andy Burnham has seen his approval drop among Labour members, according to an exclusive poll for LabourList.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester and ‘King of the North’ has been vocal in his criticism of Keir Starmer and has set out his stall for a potential bid for the Labour leadership in the press this week.

However, exclusive polling conducted by Survation reveals a fall in his net favourability among Labour members – although his support among the membership remains high.

Burnham’s favourability rating dropped by nine points to +69, down from +78 last month, with the amount of members having a very unfavourable opinion of the mayor jumping from three percent to eight percent.

Burnham’s favourability is strongest in South West England at +85, but ‘weakest’ in London at +54.

However, Burnham’s approval rating remains streaks ahead of the Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose net favourability among the Labour membership sits at -11.

The poll comes amid tensions ahead of Labour Party conference, which begins in earnest on Sunday, with Starmer loyalists warning that Andy Burnham would cause a market crisis akin to Liz Truss were he to topple Keir Starmer as party leader and Prime Minister.

READ MORE: Labour Party Conference 2025: Full LabourList events programme, revealed

Editor of LabourList Emma Burnell said: “Andy Burnham remains one of Labour’s most popular – and visible – politicians. However, clearly not all members take kindly to the idea of him semi-overtly challenging Starmer for the leadership. Such a move is – by its very nature – divisive.

“Some members might want to replace Starmer but many others might just want the PM to register their discontent and improve while remaining in post.

“While this drop is significant, and probably reflects a sense of unease at a potential contest from some areas of the membership. However, it is worth both Burnham and Starmer remembering that the drop is only to well over two-thirds of members having a positive rating of Burnham. If Starmer and his allies are seen to attack him too obviously, they might find they are actually only wounding themselves.”

Damian Lyons Lowe, chief executive of Survation, said: “It is not surprising to see some movement in Andy Burnham’s support – his ‘leadership challenge vibes’ might have put off some members loyal to Keir Starmer.

“That being said, it remains clear that in terms of the membership of the Labour Party, a Starmer vs Burnham leadership election (should that match-up ever come to pass) would be a landslide for the mayor of Greater Manchester. His favourability is 80 points higher than the Prime Minister’s among members.”

The poll is the latest in a series of regular polls LabourList is publishing in partnership with leading pollsters Survation, a member of the British Polling Council and a Market Research Society Partner.

Survation surveyed 1,254 readers of LabourList, the leading dedicated newsletter and news and comment website for Labour supporters, who also said they were Labour Party members between September 23 and 25.

Data was weighted to the profile of party members by age, sex, region and 2020 Labour leadership vote, targets for which were derived from the British Election Study and the results of the 2020 leadership election.

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