Rishi Sunak: PM’s personal poll ratings hit record lows

Rishi Sunak’s approval rating has reached its lowest point yet amid widespread pessimism about Brexit and the direction of the UK.

Just 27 per cent of people told pollster Ipsos that they had a favourable opinion of the Prime Minister in a survey, while 46 per cent said they had an unfavourable view.

A month earlier, 30 per cent of people said they held a favourable view of Sunak and 39 per cent said they held an unfavourable one.

The figures are the worst of Sunak’s premiership and are more in line with the overall favourability rating of his party and his predecessor-but-one Boris Johnson.

The poll of 2,200 British adults found just 25 per cent had a favourable view of the Conservatives, up from 20 per cent when Sunak took over, and 28 per cent had a favourable opinion of Johnson. 

However, both the Conservatives and Johnson had “unfavourable” scores above 50 per cent.

Meanwhile his opponent, Sir Keir Starmer, continues to outpoll him with a favourability score of 32 per cent, although 39 per cent of people said they had an unfavourable view of the Labour leader.

Ipsos research director Keiran Pedley said: “When Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister it was notable that his personal poll ratings were significantly better than those of his party.

“This increasingly no longer appears to be the case amidst public pessimism about the direction of the country.”

Sunak has spent the week attempting to negotiate a solution to the row over the Northern Ireland Protocol, but Ipsos found 55 per cent of people thought Brexit has had a negative impact.

It was the most pessimistic figure for Brexit recorded by Ipsos since the company started asking about the impact of leaving the EU in January 2020.

“Our polling shows strong public concern about the cost of living and public services, whilst Brexit is being viewed more negatively over time as well,” Pedley added.

“The Prime Minister will hope he is able to seize the political agenda in the coming weeks and months if he is to have any chance of turning his fortunes around.”

Christopher McKeon, PA