Public confidence in Labour’s delivery of its five missions is low – especially economic growth

A new Ipsos in the UK poll reveals sustained public pessimism regarding the Labour government's ability to deliver on its five key missions, both currently and by the next general election. The research, conducted online among 1,085 British adults aged 18-75 between April 17-18, 2025, paints a concerning picture for the Labour Party.

Key findings 

• Current performance: Across all five missions, more people continue to believe Labour is doing a bad job than a good job. The net rating for “Kickstart economic growth” is the lowest at -29 (20% good job, 49% bad), while “Build an NHS fit for the future” is the least pessimistic at -20 (26% good job, 46% bad).  Since last September, public optimism about Labour's performance has generally declined across all missions, and since January criticism has increased particularly for “Kickstarting economic growth” (+6ppt increase in rating them as doing a bad job to 49%), “Making Britain a clean energy superpower (+6ppt increase in bad job to 44%) and “Breaking down barriers to opportunity” (+7ppt increase in bad job to 44%).

• Future outlook: The public also remains pessimistic about Labour's ability to deliver on its missions by the next general election (due latest August 2029).  "Building an NHS fit for the future" fares best with a net good job rating of -13, while "Take back our streets" elicits the most negativity (-21). Once again, public opinion on the future performance of all missions have seen downward swings since September 2024.

• Top priority: "Building an NHS fit for the future" remains the public's top priority among Labour's missions, chosen by 62% of respondents. This is followed by "Kickstarting economic growth" (36%) and "Taking back our streets" (30%).

Commenting on the findings, Gideon Skinner, Senior Director of UK Politics at Ipsos, said:
 

These findings highlight a persistent challenge for the Labour government, in terms of delivering the change in the economy, public services and local areas that people voted for at the last election. There's a clear and growing sense of pessimism about Labour's capacity to deliver on its promises, not only in the present but also looking ahead to the next election. Even on the NHS, the public’s top priority and where there have been some signs of recent improvements on waiting lists, pessimism still outweighs optimism. Voter negativity is particularly pronounced when it comes to the economy, an area where Labour needs to significantly improve public confidence which is currently at historic lows.  The public have been feeling unhappy with the state of the country for a long time, even before Labour came to power, which means they are impatient to start seeing tangible improvements to their daily lives – and the local elections have shown that Labour will be held to account if it doesn’t deliver these.

Technical note: 

• Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,085 adults aged 18-75 across Great Britain. Polling was conducted online between the 17th – 18th April 2025.  
• Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.