Cabinet rankings: ministers enjoy pre-conference boost in approval among Labour members

Keir Starmer’s Cabinet ministers have enjoyed a post-reshuffle boost in approval among Labour members, exclusive polling for LabourList has revealed.

Cabinet ministers saw an increase on average of five points among party members, according to polling conducted by Survation.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy saw the biggest boost among her Cabinet colleagues, with her net favourability jumping by 20 points, while Attorney General Lord Hermer saw his approval drop most, with a fall of six points.

Ed Miliband remains the most popular member of the Cabinet among Labour members with a favourability of +71, down slightly on last month’s poll, followed by Hilary Benn (+44), John Healey (+38) and Jonathan Reynolds (+36).

Only three ministers saw negative approval ratings in our latest poll; Prime Minister Keir Starmer (-11), Chancellor Rachel Reeves (-16) and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall (-21).

Prime Minister Keir Starmer saw his net approval rating dip from -9 to -11, with a drop in his favourability among those who backed him as leader in 2020 – falling from +27 last month to +25. Support among members who previously backed Lisa Nandy saw a significant drop, falling to -15 from -4 in August. However, Starmer saw a slight boost in support among those who had supported Rebecca Long-Bailey, increasing slightly from -88 to -86.

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Editor of LabourList Emma Burnell said: “The Labour government has felt embattled over the last few weeks and so perhaps it’s not surprising that members have rallied around those cabinet members they don’t hold personally responsible for that.

“It is clear from these figures that the area where members feel the most concern is on the handling of welfare reform. It is very telling that the three cabinet members with negative ratings are the Chancellor and the previous Work and Pensions Secretary – and their boss, the Prime Minister.

“With all our tendency for infighting, Labour members do want the government to succeed and don’t want to be unduly unfair to the government as a whole – even if they do have worries about some of the government’s individual decisions and overall lack of messaging and direction.”

Damian Lyons Lowe, chief executive of Survation, said: “Cabinet reshuffles can create a short-term bounce, and we can see that in play here with ministers enjoying on average a five-point boost in favorability.

“Despite these gains, the Prime Minister and his top economic team remain in negative territory – underlining the challenge for Keir Starmer that while individual ministers may be popular, his own ratings among members continue to drag.”

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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