Labour most trusted on cost of living and levelling up, but Conservatives still lead on growing the economy

Ipsos’s latest Political Monitor, taken 19th to 25th January, shows Labour more trusted than the Conservatives on a range of issues including “levelling-up” (by 44% to 14%), improving the NHS (by 45% to 18%) and reducing you and your family’s cost of living (by 38% to 21%). On the other hand, the Conservatives lead Labour on being most trusted to grow the economy (by 37% to 31%).

Labour ready for Government / Starmer ready to be PM/Conservatives deserve to be re-elected?

The public are split on whether Labour is ready to form the next government but the party’s score on this measure is better than since they lost office. However it is still below the figures Labour was achieving before its 1997 success, or the Conservatives in 2009-2010.

Two in five (38%) agree that Labour is ready to form the next government (+13 pts from Sep ’21) and 40% disagree (-11). These scores represent the best Labour has achieved since losing office in 2010. In that time Labour has never bettered its current score of 38% agree, and although it achieved 35% under Ed Miliband in June 2014, a majority (52%) disagreed the party were ready at that time, significantly more than the 40% disagreeing now.

Similarly, 38% agree that Keir Starmer is ready to be Prime Minister (+5 points from Feb ’21) and 40% disagree (+3). Here the proportion who agree is the best a Labour leader has achieved since the party lost office in 2010. The closest score is Jeremy Corbyn’s 31% in May 2017 (although 60% disagreed at the time).

Meanwhile, the proportion who agree the Conservative Government deserves to be re-elected has fallen slightly since last September from 32% to 28%. The proportion who disagree has risen 10 points to 56%.

COVID handling

This month 37% think the government are handling the coronavirus outbreak ‘well’ (up 3 points from December) and 44% say badly (-5 points). This suggests an improvement after concerns rose in the months before Christmas.

Gideon Skinner, Head of Politics at Ipsos, says of the findings:

Their own supporters still trust them the most on the issues, but over the last year we have seen growing criticism of the Government’s delivery across a range of areas, which is also now combining with public reaction to stories about parties during the pandemic. Despite it all the Conservatives do still keep a lead on the economy, although Labour is ahead on other current concerns such as the cost of living, the NHS and levelling-up. Boris Johnson’s party will also worry about the contrasting direction of travel between them and their opponents. Doubts over Labour and Keir Starmer’s readiness for government haven’t completely disappeared, but are lower than under his two predecessors. Meanwhile, as they deal with stories over lockdown parties and public anxieties about the cost of living, public services, crime and immigration, views towards the Conservatives’ electability are moving in a more negative direction.

Technical note

Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,059 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone:19th to 25th January 2022. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error. On the basis of the historical record of the polls at recent general elections, there is a 9 in 10 chance that the true value of a party’s support lies within 4 points of the estimates provided by this poll, and a 2 in 3 chance that they lie within 2 points. This is especially important to keep in mind when calculating party lead figures.