Labour approval rating hits record low… for some odd reason

Shocking maybe no one, Keir Starmer’s Labour government has sunk to its lowest approval rating yet.

🚨 NEW | Labour approval hits record low (-61)

✅ Approve – 11% (-1)
❌ Disapprove – 72% (+3)

Via @YouGov, 15 Sep (+/- vs 8 Sep) pic.twitter.com/1IfMsrOdjR

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) September 16, 2025

This isn’t as bad as some Conservative governments’ lowest moments, but Starmer won’t be happy to discover what happened to the prime ministers who experienced the below peaks:

How did we get here with Labour’s approval rating?

Those who follow the brilliant Stats for Lefties will know Starmer has been smashing approval records for some time:

🚨 BREAKING: Labour’s approval rating has plunged to its lowest ever figure (-54).

✅ Approve 14% (-5)
❌ Disapprove 68% (+8)

Via @YouGov, 31 Mar (+/- vs 24 Mar) pic.twitter.com/UNNl54JdNV

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) April 1, 2025

Featured image via Number 10 – Flickr / Stats for Lefties

🚨 NEW | Labour approval hits -60

✅ Satisfied – 16% (-5)
❌ Dissatisfied – 76% (+6)

This net rating (-60) is a record low for the party.

Via @IpsosUK, 30 May – 4 Jun (+/- vs 4 Dec 2024) pic.twitter.com/g0QYFlMw8w

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) June 21, 2025

🚨 NEW | Labour approval falls to record low (-59)

✅ Approve – 11% (-2)
❌ Disapprove – 70% (+3)

Lower than Tory rating just before GE24 (-56).

Via @YouGov, 2 Sep (+/- vs 18 Aug) pic.twitter.com/GNy8jgYjOD

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) September 2, 2025

So what’s gone wrong for the Starmer government?

Quite a lot, to be honest, but the biggest bodges have been:

• Cutting Winter Fuel Allowance.
• Attempting to cut disability benefits.
• Refusing to nationalise utilities or implement wealth taxes.

It obviously hasn’t helped that Starmer has all the charisma of a vending machine Scotch egg, but even ’97 Tony Blair would struggle to make hay with these policies.

If anything, the problems seem to be accelerating too; in the past three weeks alone, Starmer’s government has:

• Declared ‘Israel isn’t committing a genocide‘ mere days before the UN announced that it is.
• Hosted the Israeli president without pressing him on the genocide we’re pretending isn’t happening.
• Forced out the deputy prime minister, the ambassador to the US, and some neanderthal spin doctor who the press claim was one of Starmer’s ‘sharpest minds’.

Can you post something like “Paul Ovenden resigning is major loss as he was one of the most effective members of Starmer’s team & played key role in Labour’s success” – DO NOT mention the actual content of the WhatsApp messages. Cheers pic.twitter.com/zHeTHBnSSn

— Plutôt la Barbie (@plutotlabarbie) September 15, 2025

Now let’s look at the other times when government unpopularity peaked.

Spiked

5 June 2016, approval hits -43 (18 points better than today). One month later on 13 July, prime minister David Cameron ended his time as prime minister:

13 May 2019, approval hits -63 (2 points worse than today). Two months later on 24 July, Theresa May ended her time as prime minister:

17 October 2022, approval hits -69 (8 points worse than today). You’re expecting us to say Boris Johnson ended his time as prime minister sometime after this, but actually he was done a month earlier on 6 September when approval was at -47 (14 points better than today). It was Liz Truss who left on 25 October, a week later, in what we should probably refer to as the ‘autumn of discontent’.

Finally, we get to 1 July 2024, when approval hit -61 (equal to today). Rishi Sunak exited Downing Street four days later on 5 July.

To recap, the Starmer government’s approval is:

• Better than the crisis points before Theresa May and Liz Truss resigned.
• Equal to Rishi Sunak’s at the point when he lost the general election.
• Significantly worse than the lowest moments for David Cameron and Boris Johnson.

Point-less

Remember when Tony Blair said this under Corbyn?

Any other leader would be 20 points ahead pic.twitter.com/RjAWNBG4WP

— Green New Neil (@HippieKillerBoB) August 7, 2025

Now, Labour’s approval rating is struggling to hit 20 points, never mind being 20 points ahead:

And if the labour party was led anyone else they would be on 20 points https://t.co/gWxRJnIDXl pic.twitter.com/BCXlJPAHmv

— NJ (@NoJusticeMTG) August 14, 2025

We’re tempted to say this dire polling spells the end for Starmer, but let’s not count the man out.

If he really tries his hardest – if he really knuckles down – there’s every chance he can break the record set by Liz Truss and hit a -100 approval rate.

Featured image via Downing Street