The Prime Minister has insisted he can win the next general election – but over 60% of Britons disagree.
Keir Starmer’s handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal has raised questions about his future as PM (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will remain Labour leader and lead the party into victory at the next general election – but half of Britons disagree. The Prime Minister has faced growing calls to resign amid the ongoing row over Peter Mandelson‘s vetting for the position of US ambassador and suggestions that he misled Parliament, which he denies. While Cabinet divisions are said to have emerged over his handling of the process, including the decision to sack former Foreign Office official Sir Olly Robbins, Sir Keir insisted in an interview this week that he would fight the next general election and that he thinks Labour can win.
In these views, he diverges from a significant percentage of the general public, however, with new polling revealing that 50% of Britons think the Prime Minister should step down, while 68% think it is unlikely he will win the 2029 election. Keiran Pedley, director of politics for Ipsos, which conducted the research as part of its Political Pulse survey, told LBC: “As speculation mounts about Keir Starmer‘s future, the way forward for Labour is unclear.”
The Prime Minister has faced growing calls to resign over the last few days (Image: Getty)
He added: “6 in 10 are unfavourable towards him and half think he should step down. However, sentiment hasn’t really moved since the autumn and it is not obvious who should replace him.”
Unhappiness about Sir Keir’s handling of the Mandelson scandal coupled with expected losses in next month’s local elections could set in motion a leadership challenge, with central contenders including former deputy PM Angela Rayner, ‘King of the North’ Andy Burnham and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, the latter of whom is Express readers’ worst-case successor.
Despite the mounting speculation, the Prime Minister told the Sunday Times that “of course” he would stay on as leader. “We didn’t wait 14 years to get elected, we didn’t change the Labour Party, we didn’t do all that it entailed to win the election and the mandate for change, not to deliver on it,” he added.
Sir Keir also pitched the next election as “Labour versus Reform”, with a defining question of “what is it to be British?” challenging the “patriotic values of tolerance, decency and diversity”.
The Ipsos data paints a broader picture, however, reflecting local election projections which have suggested the Green Party will also make sweeping wins on May 7 as Britain’s political landscape dramatically broadens from its traditional two party structure.
The polling, comprised of over 2,000 British adults between April 17 and 21, weighted to match the profile of the population, showed the Greens coming out on top with 28% public favourability, followed by Reform on 27%, the Liberal Democrats on 23%, the Conservatives on 22% and Labour trailing behind with just 20%.