Almost seven out of 10 people think Britain is heading in wrong direction – poll

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

More people think Britain is heading in the wrong direction than at any point since the 2019 election, a poll has found.

Almost seven out of 10 people, some 69%, told pollster Ipsos that the country was going the wrong way in the survey, carried out over the weekend before Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister.

The figure is the highest level recorded by the pollster since it started asking the question after the 2019 election, topping the 64% who said the country was going the wrong way in August.

Just 9% of the 1,111 adults surveyed by Ipsos thought the country was heading in the right direction, also breaking the previous record of 16% set in July.

Keiran Pedley, Ipsos director of politics, said the results “show the scale of the political challenge Rishi Sunak faces as he enters Downing Street”.

Those challenges are compounded by improved polling for the Labour Party. More people now feel favourable towards the opposition than unfavourable for the first time since before the 2019 election.

Opinion is still split, with 38% saying they had a favourable opinion and 36% having an unfavourable one, but some 56% of people said they felt negatively towards the Tories – the party’s worst score since 2019.

Sir Keir Starmer also has a net favourability rating of +2, his first positive rating since November 2020, and leads Mr Sunak on who would make a better prime minister by 34% to 25%.

Some 60% of people expect Labour to win the next election and 32% think Labour has the best policies, compared to 17% who think the Conservatives do.

Mr Pedley said: “A clear majority are unfavourable towards the Conservative Party and the public are net positive about the Labour Party for the first time in this series.

“However, Mr Sunak will be encouraged at his own, personal, poll ratings improving and time will tell if negative perceptions of the Conservative Party are fixed, or if they dissipate following the departure of Liz Truss.”

Mr Sunak’s ratings have improved substantially since July and he now has a net favourability rating of just -4.

Senior members of his cabinet, however, are much less popular. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has a net favourability rating of -23, Home Secretary Suella Braverman is on -27 and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is on -19.

Therese Coffey, who served as deputy prime minister to Liz Truss and is now Environment Secretary, has a net rating of -33.