Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s approval rating at home has become one of the lowest of any Western leader, according to a new poll by YouGov. The survey, conducted at the end of August, found only 22% of Britons have a favourable opinion of him, while 69% view him unfavourably, giving a net rating of -47%.
Only French President Emmanuel Macron is more unpopular among his own citizens, with a net favourability of -55%. Other European leaders such as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni (-22%) and Spain’s Pedro Sánchez (-31%) fare better. Even Donald Trump, at -12%, enjoys higher net favourability in the US than Starmer does in the UK.
Labour’s polling has fallen 14.2 percentage points since the general election in July 2024, the worst drop for a governing party in modern British records. The party now stands at 23.3% in June 2025, compared with 37.5% a year earlier. This decline has allowed Reform UK to take the lead in voting intention, with around 30% support.
The erosion of support is bipartisan: 14% of 2024 Labour voters now back Reform or the Conservatives, while 26% have switched to left-leaning parties including the Liberal Democrats (13%), Greens (10%), and nationalist parties (3%). A new left-wing breakaway, Your party, could attract even more disaffected Labour voters, with Ipsos polling suggesting a fifth of Britons would consider voting for it.
Starmer’s popularity is following a trajectory similar to Macron’s during his first year in office, which saw a sharp drop followed by a partial recovery. However, the prime minister’s aides may be concerned by the scale and speed of the decline, which is unprecedented for a new prime minister since the 1980s.
