ANOTHER ballot exhibits Labour in third behind Reform and Tories as Starmer allies activate ‘fool’ rebels forward of first New Year PMQs
Keir Starmer‘s New Year relaunch faced more trouble today as another poll showed Labour behind the Tories and Reform.
Research by More in Common put the party in third place on just 19 per cent, down two points since before Christmas.
The Conservatives were up one on 23 per cent, with Nigel Farage‘s insurgents far ahead on 31 per cent.
The grim figures for Sir Keir emerged the day after a YouGov survey showed Labour in third for the first time.
It is a fresh blow as he prepares to take the first PMQs of 2026 at lunchtime, with infighting raging. Allies of the premier have been hitting back at ‘idiots’ jostling over the leadership, amid claims Scots MPs are pushing for a change at the top.
Nigel Farage mocked Sir Keir this morning after he robotically read out a ‘rousing’ speech to the Cabinet yesterday.
Keir Starmer’s New Year relaunch faced more trouble today as another poll showed Labour behind the Tories and Reform
The PM invited the cameras in for the start of the meeting, during which he urged ministers to set aside months of infighting and focus on the cost-of-living crisis.
The Cabinet looked on bleakly as he reminded them of a long list of ‘achievements’, such as increasing the minimum wage and offering people taxpayer-funded subsidies to help with energy bills.
And No 10 was forced to deny reports that Sir Keir’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, warned ministers that voters thought the Government was suffering from an ’emotion deficit’.
During a lengthy ‘political’ section of the meeting, focused on the looming local elections, the Prime Minister acknowledged that Labour faced the ‘fight of our political lives’ after a dismal first 18 months.
And he insisted he could confound opinion polls ranking him the most unpopular prime minister in history.
The latest YouGov survey found 74 per cent of voters disapprove of the Prime Minister’s performance, compared with just 18 per cent who approve.
In a further humiliation, his net favourability rating of minus 56 is broadly similar to the minus 58 recorded in the UK for Hamas.
Mr Farage told a press conference this morning: ‘I’m not even sure he knows what he’s saying any more… this is a man politically who is drowning.’
