David Vance SubstackRead More
I had to chuckle when I read that UK PM Sir Keir Starmer has told his cabinet today ‘governments don’t lose because polls go down’ – as YouGov puts Labour behind Reform UK and Tories. Well, actually they do! Here is the poll that has him panicked. It’s not the poll itself that makes Government lose but the national mood swing it captures! Governments lose when people desert them in droves. Starmer is viewed as the MOST unpopular Prime Minister in history.
As you can see, Labour are vying with the Lib Dem and Green for 3/4/5th place and absolutely out of contention. This will manifest in May with catastrophic consequences for Labour. Starmer knows this but he is carrying on regardless!
Just before Christmas, Starmer was hoping to use this week to highlight the government’s determination to bring down the cost of living for people. However Donald Trump has blown this out of the news with his raid on Venezuela. Poor Keir.
But Starmer has not quite abandoned the plan and told his colleagues that the government should “keep a relentless focus on the cost of living, show relentless delivery of change people can feel and bring relentless clarity to drawing the choice ahead”.
Referring to that choice, Starmer said:
A Labour government renewing the country or a Reform movement that feeds on grievance, decline and division. They want a weaker state, they want to inject bile into our communities, they want to appease Putin. This is the fight of our political lives and one that we must relish.
Starmer also urged his ministers to ignore the polls
I do not underestimate the scale of the task. But I have no doubt about this team. Governments do not lose because polls go down. They lose when they lose belief or nerve. We will do neither.
He just doesn’t get it, does he? This Government has made us all poorer, it has totally failed to deal with illegal cross channel migration, and it u-turns on a daily basis. The polls have sent a consistent message – Britain wants political change and it’s not Labour!
