Labour retains a dominant lead of 17-points over the Conservatives, with the public more likely to say Keir Starmer has the best plan for the country over Rishi Sunak, according to the latest voting intention poll from Savanta for The Telegraph.
The poll, conducted earlier this week (17-19 May), sees the Labour Party on 43% of the vote share, with the Conservatives on 26%, a one-point decrease in Labour’s lead since our poll last week. Reform UK continue to drop in Savanta’s voting intention polls, now down to 9%.
Despite this the Prime Minister stood outside Downing Street was rained on as called for a general election on 4 July.
Savanta’s last five voting intention polls have shown Labour leads of 16, 18, 16, 18 and now 17 points.
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Savanta’s findings comes after Keir Starmer launched his ‘six first steps’ in government, with the Labour leader (42%) enjoying a 15-point lead among the public over Rishi Sunak (27%) on who “has the better plan for the country”.
Despite the Prime Minister’s repeated insistence that he “has a plan, and the plan is working”, he is even beaten by ‘Don’t Know’ (30%) among the public on who has a better plan.
Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta said, “The Conservative Party continues to hammer home that they have a plan, that it’s working and that’s why the public should stick with them. They may well have more evidence to support this claim this week, if – as anticipated – inflation and net migration both fall. Maybe at this point they will begin to get credit from voters, who so far appear unmoved by their efforts.”
“There is a significant problem with the Conservatives’ ‘we have a plan’ messaging – the public doesn’t believe them. More to the point, Keir Starmer has a 15-point lead over Rishi Sunak on who has the better plan for the country. Voters are hugely cynical about any politician’s ability to change things, and this is impacting both Starmer and Sunak as they make promises ahead of an election.”
The response from wider public to Keir Starmer’s six ‘first steps’ pledges was mixed, with just one third (33%) saying Labour will be able to deliver on them, and 42% saying they are achievable. However 66% of the public say the pledges are ‘what Britain needs’, including 58% of current Conservative voters.
More broadly, Savanta’s findings suggests cynicism among the public, in particular undecided voters. They were equally unenthused between Sunak’s plan (19%) and Starmer’s (19%), with three in five undecided voters (62%) saying they ‘Don’t Know’.
