Filter News

News | QTW Do Drop Inn
Our Mission Suggest a Source Daily News List Archive ? Help Sign In Join Free

Post-Starmer polls show that Labour is still in the toilet

πŸ“° The Canary πŸ• June 24, 2026 at 5:31 AM
Andy Burnham, a poll, and Labour MPs, Starmer

Keir Starmer has resigned as prime minister, with Andy Burnham the only viable alternative to replace him. Given Burnham’s success in Makerfield, you can see why. The question is whether Burnham can turn his regional support into national success, and the signs so far aren’t promising:

Post-Starmer and pre-Burnham

Labour politicians seem to be convinced that their fortunes have turned around now that the King of the North has returned to Parliament:

The polling shows a different story, and the above isn’t even the worst. As Stats for Lefties highlighted, things look even more dire with YouGov:

This is despite Burnham absolutely smashing it in Makerfield:

So, what’s happening here?

There are a few things to bear in mind:

  • Burnham is far less popular outside of Greater Manchester.
  • Burnham isn’t actually the PM yet, and he hasn’t laid out his plan for government.

On this last point, we should note that Burnham laying out his plans won’t necessarily mean Labour’s polling improves. As Opinium reported, exposure to Burnham during the Makerfield by-election actually made people like him less:

Why did this happen?

In our opinion, it’s because the man is wishy washy on everything. Trying to get him to commit to a position is like trying to nail an egg to the wall. As we’ve reported:

Another issue has been immigration. As we reported, Burnham went from criticising Mahmood’s immigration policies to backing them. Now, he’s supposedly going to water them down:

If he tinkers around the edges with immigration, the risk is he pisses off the right for backtracking while simultaneously pissing off the left for maintaining Mahmood’s Reform-lite ideology. And the risk isn’t isolated to migration, either; the signs are that Burnham doesn’t have a firm plan on any front.

And the people Burnham is surrounding himself with leave a lot to be desired:

Scrutiny

The fact that the former mayor of Manchester lacks a firm political core doesn’t mean nothing good will happen under his premiership. Sometimes positive change happens not because of the politicians introducing it, but because change becomes impossible to hold back.

This is why we need to keep challenging Burnham to introduce wealth taxes – to renationalise key industries – to support trans rights – to recognise Palestinian humanity, and so much more.

We’re not saying we’ll get what we want, but the less he offers, the more we’ll demand.

If Labour politicians think this is presumptuous, they’d do well to remember we’re not the ones who’ve turned 80% of the country against us! Are we, Starmer?

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore

πŸ”— View Original Source
← Back to News