Clear majorities of the public think Rishi Sunak’s government doing a bad job at delivering on key pledges

• Pledges related to cost of living, NHS continue to be seen as most important overall but clear majorities think Sunak’s government doing a bad job meeting them.

The latest Ipsos Political Pulse, conducted online between September 22nd – 26th asked favourability towards the parties and various senior politicians, whether things are heading in the right or wrong direction and whether Rishi Sunak’s government has done a good job delivering on the 5 key pledges he made earlier this year. We also asked which of the different component parts of these pledges were most important to the public.

Rishi Sunak's pledges

On three occasions this year, Ipsos have asked which parts of Rishi Sunak’s 5 key pledges are most important to the public, how his government is performing at delivering them and whether Keir Starmer’s Labour Party would have done better if they were in office.

1)    Which pledges are most important?

The most important pledges for the public overall remain easing the cost of living and dealing with NHS waiting times.

However, amongst 2019 Conservative voters ‘making sure that people who come to Britain illegally are detained and swiftly removed’ effectively ranks in joint 1st place (52%), behind reducing NHS waiting times (53%), level with easing the cost of living (52%) and just ahead of ensuring people get the NHS care they need more quickly (50%).

2)    How is Sunak’s government performing on these pledges?

The public continue to think Rishi Sunak’s government is doing a poor job overall at delivering on his key pledges. They are most likely to think his government is doing a bad job reducing NHS waiting times (71%) and ensuring people get the NHS care they need more quickly (70%) but clear majorities think his government is doing a bad job across all measures.

When we look at net good / bad job  since the start of the year we can see that perceptions of Sunak’s government’s performance have worsened across his key pledges since January.

To illustrate further on the top three pledges more important to the public:

• 63% now think Sunak’s government is doing a bad job at easing the cost of living and giving people financial security (+14 pts from January).
• 71% now think Sunak’s government is doing a bad job reducing NHS waiting lists (+16 pts from January).
• 70% think the government is doing a bad job ensuring people get the NHS care they need quickly (+16 pts from January).

3)    Would a Labour government under Starmer do any better?

When asked if Starmer’s Labour would have done a better job delivering on these pledges, the public are often divided / pessimistic. This means in net ‘good job’ terms Labour outperforms the Conservatives but in real terms the public lack confidence in Labour as well.

Favourability towards parties

In terms of the latest monthly Ipsos Political Pulse tracking questions on party favourability ratings, there is little change:

• 22% of Britons are favourable towards the Conservatives (-1 from August), 54% unfavourable (+1pt).
• 35% are favourable towards the Labour Party (-3), 40% unfavourable (+6pt).
• This means the Conservatives' net favourability score is -32 vs -5 for Labour. 

In terms of the other parties:

• 21% have a favourable opinion towards the Liberal Democrats (-1 from August), 36% unfavourable (+1). Net favourability: -15
• 28% have a favourable opinion towards the Green Party (+1 from August), 31% unfavourable (-1). Net favourability score: -3
• 13% have a favourable opinion towards Reform UK (no change), 38% unfavourable    (-6). Net favourability: -25

Direction of the country/impact of Brexit

• 62% of Britons think things are heading in the wrong direction overall (-1 from August) and 16% think things are heading in the right direction (-2). This gives a net right direction of -46.

Ipsos Director of Politics, Keiran Pedley, said of the findings:

These numbers reflect the scale of the challenge Rishi Sunak faces to turn the Conservatives' fortunes around. Earlier this year he made 5 key pledges and invited the public to judge him on his success. However, right now, not only do the public not think his government is delivering but they tend to think it is doing worst on the issuers of most importance to them.

Technical note

Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,051 GB adults aged 18+. Interviews were conducted online from 22-26 September 2023.  Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.