Three-quarters of Labour members believe Burnham can unite party – poll

Three-quarters of Labour members believe that Andy Burnham can unite the party following the change in leader, a new poll for LabourList reveals.

Polling, conducted by Survation, found that 76 percent of members thought that the new Labour leader and Prime Minister can bring the party together following the leadership crisis.

Only ten percent thought Burnham could not unite the party, with 14 percent unsure.

The poll also found that less than eight percent of members have considered quitting the party since Burnham took over as Labour leader and Prime Minister, compared to 90 percent who have not.

Members who joined the party in 2020, backed Keir Starmer as leader, or who supported Bridget Phillipson as deputy leader, were among the more likely groups to have considered leaving Labour, although the proportion remained relatively low at 13 percent, 10 percent and 14 percent respectively.

It comes after several Starmer-loyal members took to social media after Burnham entered Number 10 to suggest they would quit the party in protest at what they saw as a “coup”.

Despite their views, around two-thirds (63 percent) of Labour members think Burnham’s leadership will encourage more people to join the party than quit, with only four percent believing there will be a drop in the party’s membership under him. Around a quarter (26 percent) of members believed there would be no substantial change.

Burnham would have comfortably won leadership contest, poll finds

Although Burnham was elected unopposed as party leader, polling revealed that he likely would have won a leadership contest by a comfortable margin.

Some 70 percent of members said they would have backed Andy Burnham in a hypothetical leadership election, while only just shy of a quarter (24 percent) would have supported another candidate.

Of that 24 percent, around a third (31 percent) would have supported Defence Secretary and former leadership contender Wes Streeting.

Emma Burnell, editor of LabourList, said: “There has been quite a lot of noise from those who supported Starmer and have been upset about the change of Labour leadership. However, these numbers show that this is really only a small minority of Labour members.

“While it is understandable that some feel there should have been a contest, polling before the change, now backed up by this poll, shows the outcome was inevitable.

“It is now the job of the whole party to unite to maintain the energy we have regained over the summer.”

Survation, a member of the British Polling Council and a Market Research Society Partner, surveyed 812 readers of LabourList who also said they were Labour Party members between July 24 and 27.

Data was weighted to the profile of party members by age, sex, region and 2025 deputy leadership vote. Targets for weighting were drawn from the British Election Study and the results of the leadership and deputy leadership elections.

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