Labour leadership hopefuls fail to impress Scottish public

• Most people in Scotland (68%) think Keir Starmer should resign before the next UK General Election.
• However, none of the current Labour frontrunners to replace him has a net positive favourability rating among the Scottish public. Andy Burnham has the highest rating, but his ‘net’ rating among Scots is still negative overall, in contrast with Ipsos findings for Britain as a whole.
• The Scottish public – including Labour voters – are more divided on whether Anas Sarwar should stay or go as Scottish Labour leader, with 49% saying he should not lead Scottish Labour into the next Scottish election.
   

Rachel Ormston, Research Director at Ipsos Scotland, commented: 

Most Scots are convinced Keir Starmer should go before 2029, but are less positive than the British public as a whole about his rivals for the Labour leadership. Should current frontrunner, Andy Burnham, take over before the next General Election, Ipsos’ findings suggest he may have more to do to win over Scottish voters. Meanwhile, Scottish Labour voters are divided on whether Anas Sarwar should continue to lead them into the next Scottish Parliament election.

Should Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar continue as Labour leaders?

Most people in Scotland (68%) think someone other than Keir Starmer should lead Labour into the next General Election, with 39% saying he should resign immediately, and 29% that he should not lead the party into the next election but now is not the right time to resign.

The public is more divided on whether Anas Sarwar should continue to lead Scottish Labour – 49% say he should not lead them into the next Scottish Parliament election (including 30% who say he should resign immediately), while the remainder think he should continue (21%), are unsure (27%) or prefer not to say (2%). Labour voters are also divided, with 42% saying he should lead Labour into the next Holyrood election, and the same proportion that he should not.

Views of UK Labour leadership contenders

Keir Starmer’s overall favourability rating (the proportion who have a favourable view of his performance, minus the proportion who have an unfavourable view) among the Scottish public has slipped back since Ipsos’ April poll, from -35 to -40. 

Of the three most commonly discussed potential future Labour challengers for Keir Starmer’s job, Wes Streeting’s ‘net’ rating with the Scottish public is just as negative as Keir Starmer’s, at -40, with Angela Rayner close behind on -32. 

Andy Burnham has the highest ‘net’ favourability ratings among Scots, though his overall rating is still on balance negative (-10). This contrasts with Ipsos’ Britain-wide polling from mid-May, which found Andy Burnham had a net positive rating of +8 across the British public as a whole. 

Technical note:

• For further information, please contact Jordana Moser, [email protected]
• Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,028 adults aged 16+ across Scotland.
• Interviews were conducted online between 22-29 May 2026. Most of the fieldwork was completed prior to Peter Murrell, former Chief Executive of the SNP, pleading guilty to embezzlement on 25 May.
• Ipsos Britain wide polling referenced in this release was conducted 8-12 May 2026, online, with a sample of 2,191 British adults aged 18+.
• Data are weighted to match the profile of the offline population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.
• Where results do not sum to 100%, this may be due to computer rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of “don’t know” categories.