Sunak boosts Tories but poll still suggests Government will lose next election

An Ipsos poll brings some positives for Rishi Sunak, but suggests the Conservative brand is still ‘in trouble’.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak holds a ‘huddle’ press conference with political journalists on board a Government plane as he heads to Bali to attend the G20 summit (Leon Neal/PA) (PA Wire)

Rishi Sunak’s early days as Prime Minister boosted confidence in the Conservatives, but most still expect the party to lose the next election, according to a poll.

The Ipsos poll found 34% of people had confidence in Mr Sunak’s long-term economic plan – twice the number that thought the same about Liz Truss.

Some 38% of people also said they expected Mr Sunak to do a good job as Prime Minister, slightly more than the 36% who thought the same about Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, whose ratings have fallen since Ms Truss’s resignation.

Ipsos director of politics Keiran Pedley said the numbers showed “some signs of encouragement” for Mr Sunak, adding: “The public are less hostile to the Conservatives’ economic plans than they were under Liz Truss and there is little to choose between Sunak and Starmer on who the public think would make a good Prime Minister.”

However, the poll of 1,000 adults carried out at the start of November – but before the resignation of Gavin Williamson – was not universally positive for Mr Sunak.

More than half of people said they were not confident that the Conservatives had a good long-term economic plan or could provide the country with strong and stable leadership.

Only 27% of people thought Mr Sunak was likely to win the next general election while 46% of people thought Sir Keir would be prime minister – up from 28% at the beginning of the year.

Sir Keir’s Labour Party also led Mr Sunak’s Conservatives on 12 out of 14 policy areas including acting with integrity, improving public services and managing immigration. Mr Sunak’s party led on growing the economy, while the two were tied on having the right foreign policy.

Mr Pedley said: “There are still signs that the Conservative brand is in trouble, evidenced by the fact that a hypothetical Labour government under Starmer is seen as much more likely to deliver on public priorities around the cost of living and improving public services.”