Most don’t believe Keir Starmer will be PM after General Election – poll
NEARLY three-quarters of people in Wales think it unlikely that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will be Prime Minister after the next general election, according to a new poll.
Beaufort Research, which carried out the poll for the Western Mail, found that 72% thought it unlikely that Sir Keir would take over the reins of government, with 28% thinking it likely.
Of those, 43% thought it was fairly unlikely that Sir Keir would become PM, 29% thought it was very unlikely, 24% thought it was fairly likely and just 4% thought it was very likely.
Views varied between different regions of Wales and in terms of the age of respondents, but all groups had a majority thinking it unlikely that Sir Keir would become e PM.
In Cardiff and south-east st Wales, only 24% thought it t likely that Sir Keir would d become PM while in the Valleys the figure rose to
34%.
In north Wales 25% 5% thought it likely, in westestsouth Wales 28% and in n mid and west Wales 29%.
Those aged between 16 6 and 34 were most inclined to believe ieve it was likely that Sir Keir would become PM (34%), while the proportion dipped to 31% for those aged between 35 and 54 and 21% for those aged 55 and over.
There was no overall difference in the views of men and women, with 28% of both genders believing it was likely Sir Keir would become PM and 72% thinking it was unlikely.
The same was true of people in different social grades, with just 28% of those in both the more prosperous ABC1 and the less prosperous C2DE grades thinking it likely Sir Keir would become PM and 72% thinking it unlikely.
Fluent Welsh speakers were more inclined to think it likely Sir Keir would end up in 10 Downing Street (35%) than those who can’t speak Welsh (25%).
Blaenau Gwent Labour MS Alun Davies said: “The numbers are higher than I would have expected, but the overall result is not surprising.
“The Labour Party will not win a general election by saying it will be slightly kinder than the Conservatives. It needs to offer a transformational vision of how Britain could be changed for the better. Britain is not a happy place. There are shortages in supermarkets, prices are going up and we are being told, in mid-October, that we may not be able to buy things for Christmas.
“Labour should be holding the UK Government to account and committing itself to radical reform of our democracy, with proportional representation as a major ingredient. Currently the voting system allows extreme measures to be passed by a government that only has minority support.
“Last week we learned that we have a government that is seriously considering introducing measures to overturn court rulings they don’t like. Such a mechanism already exists in the form of Acts of Parliament, but they don’t want to do that because it is complicated and timeconsuming.
“Instead they want to use a shortcut to overturn court judgements. In my view this is the closest Britain has come to fascism since 1945 and the Labour Party should be speaking out about it. Keir Starmer needs to be much more bold. He is terrified of mentioning the B word [for Brexit] for instance.
“Politicians shouldn’t just listen to focus groups. They should show leadership by arguing for what they believe is right. The present leadership seems too timid to do that.”
Darren Williams, secretary of the left-wing Welsh Labour grassroots group, said: “I think this reflects the fact that Keir Starmer hasn’t set out a clear policy alternative to the Tories.
“When he was elected leader, he said he would continue with the radical agenda on which Labour had fought the last two general elections. He hasn’t done that and instead has decided to take a more consensual approach because it’s been a time of national crisis. This hasn’t worked in terms of electoral support.
“Instead, the party needs to offer a strong policy programme based on radical change that offers hope to ordinary people.
“He has also created division in the party by suspending left-wing members for no good reason. This has undoubtedly damaged morale among many activists.”
Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said: “This poll shows that Keir Starmer’s ‘all things to all people’ strategy just doesn’t resonate with people. It’s clear by now that the only way Wales can rid ourselves of Tory Westminster rule is through independence.”
Fieldwork for the survey took place between September 13 and October 3 2021. A total of 1,000 interviews were completed and analysed. Data has been weighted to ensure it is representative of the Welsh adult (16+) population.