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Labour’s vote share since winning power has continued its dramatic slide to less than 30 per cent after voters aged 55 and over abandoned Keir Starmer’s party, new polling has revealed.
The Techne UK weekly tracker poll for The Independent has registered support for Labour falling to 29 per cent down five points from the election and two points below last week.
But with the Tories still undecided on a new leader, they failed to capitalise on Labour’s loss of popularity with a gain of just one point from last week to 24 per cent. Meanwhile Nigel Farage’s Reform UK were also up one to 19 per cent.
The Lib Dems stayed the same on 12 per cent while the Greens were unchanged on 7 per cent.
Labour’s losses came after another chaotic week which saw Keir Starmer sack his chief of staff Sue Gray and replace her with the controversial Morgan McSweeney. His government though has still been dogged by rows over freebies and now concerns are rising over dramatic tax rises with reports capital gains tax could be hiked to 39 per cent.
But Labour’s biggest problem appears to be with older voters with anger continuing to increase over the decision to cancel winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners as the days get colder.
For the first time since the election Labour trails the Tories in both the 55 to 64 age group category and the 65 and over category. In an even more concerning development Starmer’s party also trails Reform UK in both categories.
Excluding undecideds Labour has 23 per cent 55 to 64 compared to the Tories’ 26 per cent and Reform’s 25 per cent. Among 65-and-overs, Labour has just 22 per cent to the Tories’ 29 per cent and Reform’s 24 per cent.
In less than 100 days Labour has also lost more than a quarter of its vote from the last election with 27 per cent of those who said they voted for Starmer’s party in July now saying they would not do it again.
Techne UK’s chief executive Michela Morizzo said that the only reason that Labour would hang on in this scenario is because the vote on the right of politics is still split between the Tories and Reform.
She said: “Things continue to go badly for the Labour government. Sir Keir Starmer’s party drop a further two points in national vote share this week, recording now just 29 per cent. This sub 30 per cent vote share for Labour is the lowest share we have recorded for the Labour Party since February 2022.
“If the right was united – which of course it is not – they would poll together in excess of 40 per cent of national vote share, far exceeding Labour. It will be very interesting to see how the consensus willl shift once the new Conservative leader is elected and the party starts to move on with a new vision looking to the next general election.”
