UK Politics

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailMarjorie Taylor Greene has doubled down on her mistaken assertion that British Foreign Secretary David Cameron compared Republicans unwilling to support further aid to Ukraine to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. “Well, number one, I really could care less what Lord Cameron has to say. I just don’t care,” she told The Independent on Thursday. “And number two, he was calling us Hitler and calling us horrible names and that is extremely rude and he needs to stop making that association.“He needs to consider what he’s actually saying,” she added. “So I just don’t care. He really needs to worry about his country. I think over there, they’re having all kinds of problems, they’re entering a recession. They need to worry about their problems and leave our country alone.”This comes after the hard-right Republican congresswoman said Lord Cameron “can kiss my a**” on Wednesday after he urged the US Congress to pass aid to Ukraine and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, citing the appeasement of Hitler in the lead-up to the Second World War.The Democratic Senate has already passed a bill which would send further aid to Ukraine but the legislation faces a steep uphill climb in the House.In an op-ed published in The Hill on Wednesday, Lord Cameron wrote: “As Congress debates and votes on this funding package for Ukraine, I am going to drop all diplomatic niceties. I urge Congress to pass it.“I believe our joint history shows the folly of giving in to tyrants in Europe who believe in redrawing boundaries by force,” he added. “I do not want us to show the weakness displayed against Hitler in the 1930s. He came back for more, costing us far more lives to stop his aggression.“I do not want us to show the weakness displayed against Putin in 2008, when he invaded Georgia, or the uncertainty of the response in 2014, when he took Crimea and much of the Donbas — before coming back to cost us far more with his aggression in 2022,” Lord Cameron, a former UK prime minister, argued. “I want us to show the strength displayed since 2022, as the West has helped Ukrainians liberate half the territory seized by Putin, all without the loss of any NATO service personnel.”“I don’t want to read it, I know the British embassy wanted me to read it – I have way too many other things to do than read his op-ed,” Ms Greene said on Thursday. James Matthews of Sky News asked Ms Greene on Wednesday: “David Cameron says that you should vote through funding for Ukraine. What do you say to that?”“I think he tried to compare us to Hitler also,” Ms Greene said, mixing up the appeasers, whose conduct Lord Cameron did cite, and the Nazi leader.Ms Greene has previously faced criticism for making comments comparing the use of masks during the pandemic to the Holocaust. She later visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC and apologised for the remarks.Speaking about Lord Cameron on Wednesday, Ms Greene told Sky News: “If that’s the kind of language he wants to use, I really have nothing to say to him.”“He likened you can do to an appeaser for Hitler, in not voting through funding for Ukraine, are you an appeaser for Putin?” Matthews asked.“I think that I really don’t care what David Cameron has to say. I think that’s rude name-calling, and I don’t appreciate that type of language. And David Cameron needs to worry about his own country, and frankly, he can kiss my a**,” she added.During a visit to Poland on Thursday, the foreign secretary said that he is not someone who wants “to lecture American friends, or tell American friends what to do”, but he added, “We really do want to see Congress pass that money to support Ukraine economically, but crucially militarily in the months ahead.”Speaking at a press conference, Lord Cameron said: “We have to do everything we can to make sure that Ukraine can succeed in this year and beyond.“We must not let Putin think he can out-wait us or last us out, and that’s why this vote in Congress is so crucial.”He added: “And I say this as someone who is not wanting in any way to lecture American friends, or tell American friends what to do.“I say it as someone who has a deep and abiding love of the United States – of their democracy, of their belief in freedom – [and] as someone who really believes in the importance of our alliance.” More

Hunt insists plan to bring inflation down is working despite 4 per cent increaseFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsBritain is trapped in a cycle of decline and Rishi Sunak’s pledges to boost the economy are now “in tatters”, Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has warned, as the UK fell into recession.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed on Thursday a 0.3 per cent decline in gross domestic product (GDP) between October and December 2023.The gloomy official figures mean the economy entered a technical recession, as defined by two or more quarters in a row of falling GDP, for the first time since amid the pandemic in the first half of 2020.The news deals a blow to the prime minister, who has promised to grow the economy as one of his five priorities, especially after most economists were only forecasting a 0.1 per cent decline in GDP.In comments Labour suggested were “out of touch”, chancellor Jeremy Hunt said low economic growth is “not a surprise”, but added that the UK must “stick to the plan – cutting taxes on work and business to build a stronger economy” despite tough times for many families.Show latest update 1708007931Rachel Reeves insists Labour’s plans to grow economy differ significantly from government’sRachel Reeves rejected suggestions that Labour’s economic plans to grow the economy were not much different from the government’s.Asked at a press conference about the plans, the shadow chancellor said: “I reject entirely that there is little difference between what Labour and the Conservatives offer.“We have got a comprehensive plan for growth that has been drawn up with business.”She pointed to planning reforms, as well as plans to invest in a £7.3bn national wealth fund, and new publicly owned energy company, Great British Energy, among the steps Labour had set out in its plans.Andy Gregory15 February 2024 14:381708006791Public services ‘on their knees’, says Rachel ReevesLabour’s Rachel Reeves said public services are “on their knees” and need an immediate injection of cash.The shadow chancellor said: “I do recognise that our public services are under huge pressure – unlike perhaps the Conservatives do – which is why I said there does need to be an immediate injection of cash into our public services.”She added: “If our economy had grown at the rate of other OECD countries these last 14 years, our economy would be £150bn bigger, worth £5,000 for every family in the UK and we would have tens of billions of pounds of additional tax receipts which we would be able to invest in our public services.“That’s why it’s so important that we grow our economy.”Andy Gregory15 February 2024 14:191708005894Tory former chancellor says room for tax cuts in BudgetTory former chancellor Lord Lamont said he thought there was room for tax cuts in the March Budget.He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “I do think tax cuts have to be responsible. I think there is probably some headroom that has been created by very strong growth in tax revenues, particularly as a result of the freezing of the tax thresholds for such a long period.“There may be some headroom. I think looking longer term though, any tax cuts have to be matched by tight control of public spending, probably financed by reductions in public spending.”On the outlook for the UK after it slipped into recession, Lord Lamont said: “I think people ought to be realistic about this. We have an almost perfect storm. We are coming through it, I think there is light at the end of the tunnel now and we just need to hold our nerve.”Andy Gregory15 February 2024 14:041708003569What does Britain being in a recession mean?While a severe recession typically causes unemployment to rise, Britain’s technical recession serves more as an indicator of the pressure households and firms are already under – and as a blow to the government’s promises to boost economic growth.The gloomy economic data is also likely to ramp up pressure on the Bank of England to start cutting interest rates from their 14-year high of 5.25 per cent, given the threat to the wider economy from painfully high borrowing costs.You can read more about what the latest economic data means below:Andy Gregory15 February 2024 13:261708001718Reeves defends Starmer’s handling of antisemitism rowRachel Reeves has defended Keir Starmer’s handling of the antisemitism row that engulfed Labour this week, saying he had not let her down.The senior frontbencher said Labour would have taken action over comments made by Azhar Ali and Graham Jones “sooner” if it had known about them and the party had intervened “swiftly”.She also told a press conference in central London: “I only returned to the shadow cabinet because I was sure of Keir Starmer’s commitment to that (rooting out antisemitism) and he hasn’t let me down, he hasn’t let the Jewish community down, and it is right that both of them have been suspended.“In terms of the vetting procedure, my understanding is that this was a private meeting, not a Labour Party meeting, and the recording was released much later.“Obviously if we’d have known about these things we would have taken action sooner.“We can’t see everything everywhere, but when we do see evidence of antisemitism, we act swiftly to ensure the highest standards and rightly so amongst our MPs and amongst our parliamentary candidates.”Kate Devlin, Politics and Whitehall Editor15 February 2024 12:551708000189Recession figures ‘don’t paint true picture of suffering’ in UK, poverty campaigner warnsSimon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said of the new fuel poverty figures: “Even these terrible figures don’t paint the true picture of the suffering in households across the UK.“They exclude millions of homes in certain energy performance categories and also don’t include many people who actually get a Warm Home Discount to help with their bills.“The numbers of households paying more than 10 per cent of their income on energy is truly shocking, far exceeding previous estimates.”And he said: “The reality is that household energy debt is now at record levels, millions of people are living in cold, damp homes and children are suffering in mouldy conditions.“The wider impact of high energy bills is also clear to see with households having to cut back on spending so much that the UK has now entered a recession.”Andy Gregory15 February 2024 12:291707998996Hunt says his Budget will focus on ‘prioritising economic growth’ – after fall into recessionJeremy Hunt has insisted his upcoming Budget will be focused on “prioritising economic growth”, after being questioned about rumours he could cut public sector spending to fund lower taxes, as the government seeks to garner political favour with voters ahead of a general election.Asked about the reports by Sky News, Mr Hunt said he would not break with convention and speak about the Budget in the weeks preceding it.But the chancellor did hint at his preference for tax cuts, suggesting that countries with “lighter taxes” did “tend to grow faster”.He added: “But I would only cut taxes in a way that was responsible, and I certainly wouldn’t do anything that fuelled inflation just when we are starting to have some success in bringing down inflation.”Andy Gregory15 February 2024 12:091707997592UK is ‘most certainly’ in a recession, says shadow chancellorRachel Reeves said the UK was “most certainly” facing a recession, after attempts to play down fears from the chancellor.At a press conference, Labour’s shadow chancellor said: “These were worse numbers than economists were predicting. This is a recession. “But we didn’t need to get these numbers for us to know that families are struggling through an enormous cost of living crisis and businesses are struggling as well.“As [former Marks and Spencer chair] Stuart Rose said on the radio this morning, if it quacks like a recession, it is a recession and this is most certainly a recession.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey has said a law aimed at protecting young people online does not go far enough.Esther Ghey is campaigning for mobile phone companies to take more responsibility for safeguarding children against the risks of accessing harmful content.Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe were both 15 when they killed transgender Brianna, 16, with a hunting knife after luring her to Linear Park in Culcheth, a village near Warrington, Cheshire, on February 11 last year.Jenkinson had watched videos of torture and murder online.In a round of television and radio interviews on Thursday, Ms Ghey said the Online Safety Act was a “step in the right direction” but she did not think it was sufficient to protect children.She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think the Online Safety Bill is enough. The internet and social media is so vast, I think it will be so hard to police.“The second point is as well, that comments and free speech – and don’t get me wrong I am all for free speech – but some of the comments I have seen on social media posts and some of the articles that I’ve done, they are just hateful comments.I think that big companies like that are all about how much money they can generate and they don’t necessarily think about the impact it is having on the public, so I think that maybe there would have to be a law just to make sure it is properly enforcedEsther Ghey“The Online Safety Bill is not going to protect children and young people from seeing that kind of horrible content because I don’t think that will be deemed as harmful.“Smartphone companies should have a moral responsibility and you should really want to do more.“But I think that big companies like that are all about how much money they can generate and they don’t necessarily think about the impact it is having on the public, so I think that maybe there would have to be a law just to make sure it is properly enforced.”Asked on BBC Breakfast what her message to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would be, Ms Ghey said: “I think more needs to be done to protect children online.“I think the Online Safety Bill is a step in the right direction but I don’t necessarily think it’s going to be enough to protect children.”The legislation passed into law in November and requires social media companies to curb the spread of illegal content on their platforms and protect children from seeing potentially harmful material, with large fines among the potential penalties for those who breach the new rules.I suppose when I was young you had peer pressure, whereas now you’ve got everything that’s in the world, negative and positive, and young people are so easily influenced so I don’t blame the parentsEsther GheyMs Ghey told ITV1’s Good Morning Britain that she believed she had cross-party support for her campaign to introduce “mindfulness” into schools in England.She said: “I think there is a misconception that it’s a bit airy-fairy and not very substantial, but for me it’s building mental fitness.“So just as you would go to the gym and you would lift heavy weights to build muscle and to become fit, it’s the same thing for your mind – you are building that mental fitness and mental resilience.“I think that is something that young people are lacking so much.“I have practised mindfulness on and off for eight years now and I was very heavily into it just before what happened to Brianna and I do really think that has helped me, and it helped to take that impact of such an horrendous thing happening.”Ms Ghey has previously spoken about wanting to meet Jenkinson’s mother and told the ITV programme it was “potentially something that will be happening”.She said: “I know how difficult it is to be a parent in this day and age with social media and mobile phones, and it’s so difficult to keep track of what your children are accessing or what they are viewing.“I suppose when I was young you had peer pressure, whereas now you’ve got everything that’s in the world, negative and positive, and young people are so easily influenced so I don’t blame the parents.“And they have also been through something really horrific. They have had to sit in court and listen to what their children have done.“I would like to meet Scarlett’s mother. It is potentially something that will be happening but it will be happening in a very private and personal way.”Earlier this month, Jenkinson and Ratcliffe  – now both aged 16 – received life sentences at Manchester Crown Court and told to serve minimum terms of 22 years and 20 years before they can be considered for parole. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Conservatives have trolled Keir Starmer over his ability to “hold multiple positions at the same time” with a Valentine’s Day-themed social media campaign named “Starmer Sutra”.The string of eyebrow-raising posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, highlight a number of U-turns the Labour party leader has made in recent weeks.Dubbing him the “father of U-turns”, backtracked policies including Starmer’s stance on backdating Labour’s windfall tax, a second Brexit referendum and monarchy are featured.Introducing the series, the Conservative Party wrote: “The Starmer Sutra is the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for the politically promiscuous. Written by the father of u-turns, this is the definitive how-to guide on flip-flopping into different positions on anything. “*Only available in paperback and spineless editions*”The mock front cover also features a photoshopped picture of Starmer appearing in a twisted position.The first “position” spotlights Starmer saying £28 billion of extra spending on green measures was needed on February 6 on Times Radio, before he dismissed the stance the next day on BBC News.Position two features Starmer’s infamous u-turn on his pledge to backdate Labour’s windfall tax on oil and gas companies, which he made on February 9 before dropping the plans the same day.Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the party’s plans for an extra £28 billion a year in green investment at Labour’s conference in September 2021.Sir Keir said £28bn of annual investment in green initiatives was “desperately needed” and that his support for the spending plan was “unwavering”.However, the Labour leader later confirmed that the pledge is being scaled back, blaming a more difficult economic outlook since it was first unveiled.The party has blamed the Conservatives’ “crashing the economy” and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s “plans to ‘max out’ the country’s credit card” for the conclusion it would not be possible to reach the previous commitment of £28 billion a year.Another U-turn highlighted in the Tory series was Mr Starmer’s stance on a second Brexit referendum, which he appeared to support in 2019 before saying he disagreed with the possibility in 2022.One of the more scandalous positions was the ninth and final one dubbed the “non-dominatrix”.This card of Starmer Sutra spotlights Starmer’s claim he would scrap the non-dom tax status in early February before Labour said they would not do this on February 12.The posts received mixed responses online, with some social media users saying they were “impressed” with the witty tweets, while others labelled them as “desperate”.Others scorned the party for making sexual jokes whilst several Tory MPs are being investigated for sexual misconduct allegations.It is not the first time Tory Twitter has endeavoured to entertain the masses with cheeky tweets.In December Tory HQ used a viral image of a BBC news anchor giving the middle finger to attack Labour over immigration. The Conservative Party’s official account used the image and the caption: “Labour when you ask for their plans to tackle illegal migration.”The move sparked a row among Conservative MPs with some urging the party to take down the post.On Thursday evening, Alicia Kearns wrote: “Amazed this has not – despite requests – been taken down, it is beneath us”. Tobias Ellwood also posted a tweet asking for it to be deleted.Political campaigning experts, More in Common, also carried out research to see how the tweet was received by the public and found that by a 68 per cent to ten per cent margin it was seen as “inappropriate” rather than “appropriate”.“We are being governed by 14-year-olds,” one social media user wrote, another adding: “This will have cost you votes. Keep digging that hole, you’re about to hit lava.” More

Jeremy Hunt insisted prioritising tackling inflation was the “right thing to do” after the UK slid into a recession.“We always expected growth to be weaker while we prioritised tackling inflation, that means higher interest rates, and that is the right thing to do because you can’t have long-term healthy growth with high inflation,” the Chancellor said today (Thursday).Mr Hunt continued: “The underlying picture here is an economy that is more resilient than most people predicted, inflation is coming down, real wages have been going up now for six months.“If we stick to our guns, independent forecasters say that by the early summer, we could start to see interest rates falling and that will be a very important relief for families with mortgages.” More

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailHard-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said British Foreign Secretary David Cameron “can kiss my a**” after he urged the US Congress to pass aid to Ukraine and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, citing the appeasement of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the lead-up to the Second World War. The Democratic Senate has already passed a bill which would send further aid to Ukraine but the legislation faces a steep uphill climb in the House. In an op-ed published in The Hill on Wednesday, Lord Cameron wrote: “As Congress debates and votes on this funding package for Ukraine, I am going to drop all diplomatic niceties. I urge Congress to pass it.”“I believe our joint history shows the folly of giving in to tyrants in Europe who believe in redrawing boundaries by force,” he added. “I do not want us to show the weakness displayed against Hitler in the 1930s. He came back for more, costing us far more lives to stop his aggression.“I do not want us to show the weakness displayed against Putin in 2008, when he invaded Georgia, or the uncertainty of the response in 2014, when he took Crimea and much of the Donbas — before coming back to cost us far more with his aggression in 2022,” Lord Cameron, a former UK prime minister, argued. “I want us to show the strength displayed since 2022, as the West has helped Ukrainians liberate half the territory seized by Putin, all without the loss of any NATO service personnel.”James Matthews of Sky News asked Ms Greene: “David Cameron says that you should vote through funding for Ukraine. What do you say to that?”“I think he tried to compare us to Hitler also,” Ms Greene said, mixing up the appeasers, whose conduct Lord Cameron did cite, and the Nazi leader. Ms Greene has previously faced criticism for making comments comparing the use of masks during the pandemic to the Holocaust. She later visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC and apologised for the remarks. Speaking about Lord Cameron on Wednesday, Ms Greene told Sky News: “If that’s the kind of language he wants to use, I really have nothing to say to him.”“He likened you can do to an appeaser for Hitler, in not voting through funding for Ukraine, are you an appeaser for Putin?” Matthews asked. “I think that I really don’t care what David Cameron has to say. I think that’s rude name-calling, and I don’t appreciate that type of language. And David Cameron needs to worry about his own country, and frankly, he can kiss my a**,” she added. More

Kingswood and Wellingborough by-elections key statistics and benchmarksSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailVoters go to the polls on Thursday in two parliamentary by-elections, with electoral contests taking place in Northamptonshire and South Gloucestershire.Helen Harrison is running for the Conservative Party in Wellingborough, after her disgraced partner Peter Bone lost the seat in a recall petition having been suspended over bullying and sexual misconduct claims he denies.Mr Bone had a majority of 18,540 in what has been traditionally a safe seat for the Tories. Ms Harrison is running against Labour’s Gen Kitchen and nine other candidates. Labour and the Tories will also battle it out for the Kingswood constituency in South Gloucestershire, vacated by Chris Skidmore, who resigned in protest at the government’s plans to boost North Sea oil and gas drilling.Sam Bromiley will be defending a majority of 11,220 for the Conservatives against Labour’s candidate Damien Egan and five other candidates. The Kingswood constituency will be abolished at the next general election – which has to take place by law no later than January 2025 – meaning that whoever wins the contest will represent the seat for only a few months.Show latest update 1707951632Kingswood and Wellingborough by-elections: Key statisticsIf the Conservatives lose one or both of Thursday’s by-elections in Kingswood and Wellingborough, it would mean the government has clocked up more by-election defeats in a single parliament than any government since the 1960s.The Tories’ current tally of by-election losses since the 2019 general election is eight: Chesham & Amersham and North Shropshire in 2021 (both gained by the Liberal Democrats); Tiverton & Honiton and Wakefield in 2022 (won by the Lib Dems and Labour respectively); and Selby & Ainsty, Somerton & Frome, Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth in 2023 (all Labour gains except Somerton & Frome, which was won by the Lib Dems).The last government to lose this many by-elections during a single parliament was the 1992-97 Conservative administration led by John Major.If the Tories lose one or both of Thursday’s contests, it would bring to nine or 10 the number of defeats so far this parliament: more than any previous government since the 1966-70 Labour administration of Harold Wilson, which endured 15 losses.Even accounting for the Conservatives’ one by-election gain this parliament – winning Hartlepool from Labour in 2021 – a double defeat on Thursday would bring the party’s overall by-election scorecard to nine net losses (10 defeats, one gain).This would still be worse than any government since 1966-70.Katy Clifton14 February 2024 23:001707944432Who is Wellingborough candidate Helen Harrison? The Conservatives have three challenging by-elections to contest in February, with the Northamptonshire seat of Wellingborough looming large in the public eye. Up for grabs after the departure of disgraced former MP Peter Bone, the local Conservative Party have selected his partner – Helen Harrison – as his replacement candidate. Wellingborough’s former MP Peter Bone was suspended from Parliament for six weeks last year, following a watchdog report into his behaviour. The independent panel found he had bullied and indecently exposed himself to a member of staff, allegations which he continues to deny.Ms Harrison has stood by her partner, telling the BBC that she believes the panel “got it wrong”. The former physiotherapist insists she is “proud” to have Mr Bone on the campaign trail with her, and that voters have not been raising the issue on the doorstep.Read more below: Albert Toth 14 February 2024 21:001707936344Wellinborough profileThe Northamptonshire constituency was won by Peter Bone for the Conservatives at every general election from 2005 to 2019.He increased the Tories’ share of the vote at each poll, pushing it up from 43% in 2005 to 48% in 2010, 52% in 2015, 57% in 2017 and 62% in 2019.Labour came second in four of the five contests, the exception being 2015 when Ukip was runner-up.Further back, Labour won Wellingborough at the 1997 and 2001 general elections.The chain of events that led to the by-election began when Mr Bone received a six-week suspension from the House of Commons after an inquiry found he had subjected a staff member to bullying and sexual misconduct.The suspension triggered a recall petition in his constituency which was signed by more than 10% of voters – the threshold for an MP to be removed from their seat.The by-election is similar to Kingswood in that is it a two-horse race between the Conservatives and Labour.However, the swing needed by Labour to win the seat is larger, at 17.9 percentage points – in other words, the equivalent of a net change of 18 in every 100 people who voted Tory in 2019 switching sides.This is still a smaller swing than the ones managed by Labour in 2023 at the by-elections in Tamworth, Selby & Ainsty and Mid Bedfordshire.There are 11 candidates standing in this by-election: Nick the Flying Brick (Official Monster Raving Loony), Ana Gunn (Liberal Democrat), Ben Habib (Reform), Helen Harrison (Conservative), Ankit Love Jknpp Jay Mala Post-Mortem (no description), Gen Kitchen (Labour), Alex Merola (Britain First), Will Morris (Green), Andre Pyne-Bailey (Independent), Marion Turner-Hawes (no description) and Kev Watts (Independent).The constituency of Wellingborough is being replaced at the next general election by the new seat of Wellingborough & Rushden. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Tories are facing an electoral wipeout that would leave them with just 80 seats, the lowest ever total for the Conservative Party, a bombshell new poll shows.Rishi Sunak is on course to lose more than three quarters of the Tories’ seats, the survey of 18,000 voters suggests.As well as spelling near-wipeout for the Conservatives, the shock poll shows seventeen ministers are set to lose their seats, including Jeremy Hunt, Grant Shapps, Penny Mordaunt, Gillian Keegan and Mel Stride.Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will face off at a general election this yearThe poll, by Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus, showed Sir Keir Starmer on course to win an even bigger landslide than Sir Tony Blair in 1997, with a majority of 254.And the survey, reported by The Daily Mirror, showed Labour’s support among voters at 42 per cent, with a 20-point lead over the Tories on 20 per cent.The survey was conducted using the MRP (multilevel regression and poststratification) method that successfully forecast the 2017 and 2019 elections.It found voters top concerns were health, the economy and immigration, while the most popular policies included building more homes and nationalising utility firms.In total, Labour would win 452 seats, 249 more than currently, with the Conservatives losing 285 seats to hold just 80.The Liberal Democrats and Green Party are also set to make gains, while the poll suggested the SNP could lose eight seats to a resurgent Scottish Labour.The poll will offer some much-needed comfort for Sir Keir after he faced two of the most difficult weeks of his leadership of the Labour Party so far.He has been dogged by claims that he flip-flops on key decisions after the fudged announcement that he was dropping Labour’s key £28bn per year green spending pledge.Labour instead replaced the measure with plans to spend £23.7 billion over the course of the next parliament.He has also been rocked by an antisemitism scandal after Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali was recorded making antisemitic remarks.After some of Mr Ali’s remarks, claiming Israel had allowed the October 7 Hamas terror attacks to go ahead, Sir Keir sought to stand by the Labour candidate.But, after facing a media storm, and further remarks being made public, Sir Keir dropped his support for Mr Ali.Another Labour candidate was then accused of antisemitism for being recorded at the same meeting appearing to refer to “f***ing Israel” and appeared to say that Britons who volunteer to fight for the Israel Defense Forces “should be locked up”.It all came as a separate poll by Savanta showed Labour’s lead over the Tories falling to its lowest since last June. More