Boris and Starmer are neck-and-neck in the opinion polls: Labour draws level with Tories on eve of first ‘virtual’ party conference – as 38% of Britons say new opposition leader looks like a PM-in-waiting
- Labour draws level with Conservatives in opinion polls with both on 40 per cent
- Poll also shows that Labour has gained three per cent and the Conservatives two per cent
- Stats claim that public thinks Sir Keir Starmer would be a better PM than Boris Johnson
Keir Starmer has drawn level with Boris Johnson in latest opinion poll with nearly 40% of Britons surveyed saying he looks like the next man to be running UK.
The move is a major boost for the new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer as he battles to wrest the Prime Minister role from Mr Johnson.
Labour has crept up three points and the Conservatives have fallen by two since the last poll to create the deadlock, since the last poll.
It is a boost for the opposition leader on the eve of his party’s first ever virtual party conference.
The YouGov poll shows that Labour and the Conservatives are head-to-head in the race for leadership
Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, is celebrating after his party drew level with the Conservatives in an opinion poll
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be hoping that the figures in the YouGov poll are wrong and that his party is still in front of Labour
The Lib-Dems are unchanged on 6% over the same period.
One factor in Labour’s rise to the same level as the Conservatives may be Sir Keir’s attack on the Government’s handling of the coronavirus issue.
The figures also show that 35% of people think Sir Keir would make the best PM compared to 30% in favour of Mr Johnson.
Statistics by YouGov also show that 38% of people asked think Sir Keir is a Prime Minister in waiting while 31% do not.
Many think that Sir Keir distancing himself from former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has helped his cause.
Out of those asked 35% thought that he had improved the party while only 4% thought that he had not.
Brexit, though, has proven to be a problem for Sir Keir, who was the party’s shadow Brexit secretary, as many are still unsure about Labour’s view on the topic.
The opposition leader has been careful not to get drawn into Mr Johnson’s threats of reneging on parts of the Brexit withdrawal deal or the possibility of a no deal Brexit.
Despite this 49% of those asked for the YouGov poll said that they did not trust Labour to handle Britain’s exit from the EU. Only 29% were in favour of Labour handling the issue.
Nearly 50 per cent of people on the YouGov poll said they did not trust Labour to handle Britain’s leaving of the EU
On domestic issues the economy proved to be a problem for Labour. Only 13% felt that it was the issue that the part cared most about. This is compared to 40% of the public who feel it is the top priority.