Two-thirds of voters want Keir Starmer to quit now, poll finds

Almost two-thirds of voters want Sir Keir Starmer to resign immediately, and a similar number want a general election now, a poll has found.

Fewer than one in five think the Prime Minister should stay on, while almost half of those who voted Labour at the 2024 general election want him to go.

Sir Keir is likely to come under increased pressure to step down if Labour fares badly in next month’s local elections, and there is a growing belief within the party that it cannot win the next general election with him as leader.

The new poll, by JL Partners, shows that a majority of voters in every region and age group want the Prime Minister to be replaced. 

Asked “should Keir Starmer stay or go?”, 64 per cent of people said he should go and 18 per cent said he should stay. Of those who voted Labour in 2024, 46 per cent said they wanted him to go now.

James Johnson, the co-founder of JL Partners, said: “I can’t think of a time I have seen the governing party’s own voters be in majority support of another election just two years later.

“The usual loyalty we see in British politics has become unbuckled as far as Labour is concerned, and that places the Prime Minister in a very perilous position indeed.”

While Labour has attempted to rebrand the Prime Minister as a world statesman at a time of global conflict in an attempt to stem a wipeout at the polls on May 7, the results are set to be brutal.

According to one recent forecast, Labour is set to lose 1,900 councillors at the local elections – more than three in five of the council seats up for election.

Reform is predicted to gain as many as 2,260 councillors, with the Greens gaining 450. The Conservatives are expected to lose more than 1,000 councillors.

Nigel Farage’s party sees Sir Keir’s unpopularity as the key to its own success in the local elections, and on Friday Mr Farage will launch its local election campaign slogan, “Vote Reform, Get Starmer Out.”

On Thursday, the Greens launched their local election campaign, which targeted Labour’s record with the slogan “Vote Green – Let’s Make Hope Normal Again.”

The pollsters asked voters which scenario would be most likely to result in Sir Keir’s resignation, and 38 per cent answered “Reform winning the most seats”, almost double the 17 per cent who cited “the Conservatives winning the most seats”.

Ten per cent thought the Greens winning the most seats would be the outcome most likely to lead to the ousting of Sir Keir.

Recent polls have found that 70 per cent of people think Sir Keir is doing badly as Prime Minister, with 75 per cent having an unfavourable opinion of him and only 18 per cent having a favourable opinion.

Reform overtook Labour in the polls for Westminster voting intention a year ago, and has led in the polling ever since, while the Greens have enjoyed a surge in popularity since Zack Polanski became leader.

According to the most recent poll of polls, Reform leads on 26.4 per cent, with the Conservatives on 18.4 per cent, Labour on 18.1 per cent, the Greens on 16.3 per cent, and the Liberal Democrats on 12.4 per cent. It means Labour faces threats from four parties.

A total of 5,014 council seats will be contested across 136 English local authorities, including all 32 London boroughs. There will also be elections for six mayors.

Labour tried to postpone some of the elections, leading to accusations that it was trying to stem its losses by denying people their democratic right to vote.