Keir Starmer’s ratings plummet after poor local election results

Two thirds of Britons now say the Labour leader is doing a bad job and dissatisfaction is almost as high among the party’s voters

The local elections saw Labour lose over 170 council seats, including several in Labour heartlands. The defeat prompted Keir Starmer to admit that Labour has ‘lost trust’ of voters. New YouGov tracker data shows that the setback has dented Starmer’s image, with the share of people saying he’s doing a bad job jumping from half of Britons (50%) to two thirds (65%) in only a month.

Only 17% of Britons now say Starmer is doing a good job as party leader, down from a quarter (26%) in April. Last time more people said he was doing a good job than bad was at the end of January, when two in five people (39%) gave him positive reviews, while a similar figure (37%) were not impressed.

Opinion among Labour voters is almost as bad

The verdict among Labour voters is not much better. Three in five (60%) now have a negative opinion of Keir Starmer – up from 44% in April. Only one in four (26%) say he’s doing a good job – down from 37%. In contrast, in his first months in June last year seven in ten Labour voters (71%) said he was doing well.