UK’s Keir Starmer suffers historic drop in approval ratings

LONDON — Keir Starmer has suffered the biggest post-election fall in approval ratings of any British prime minister in the modern era.

Just months after coming to office, the U.K. Labour leader is already languishing on an approval rating of -38, new polling of 1,012 adults by More in Common found.

It marks a precipitous 49-point drop from the +11 rating Starmer logged just after Labour won its landslide general election victory in July.

Starmer is now rated less highly than outgoing Conservative leader and defeated former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose standing since the election has increased slightly from -37 to -31.

More in Common’s U.K. Director Luke Tryl told the Telegraph that Starmer’s collapse was “unprecedented” compared to past prime ministers — and a sign the British electorate is now more volatile.

Labour’s last election-winning prime minister, Tony Blair, enjoyed a positive approval rating of +46 in Aug. 1997, three months after coming to office. His approval figures only fell in the summer of 2000, more than three years after he took power.

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s approval ratings also did not fall into negative territory until 2011, more than seven months after he entered office.

Starmer’s low ratings come ahead of the Labour government’s first budget, which is expected to include tax rises in a bid to pump more funding into some key public services.