One year on, is time already running out for PM Rishi Sunak? Our readers think so
Rishi Sunak has failed as PM – but there’s not much enthusiasm for the other guy either.
That’s the withering verdict from Star readers as they assess the Prime Minster’s performance one year on from him taking residence in Number 10.
Our online poll reveals most people believe Mr Sunak is a busted flush, with only 15 per cent saying he can win a general election. Interestingly, when asked to pick out who has been the best leader, Boris Johnson outscores Mr Sunak, polling 55 per cent to the current PM’s 32 per cent.
Mr Johnson was given credit for the Tories’ remarkable success in so-called Red Wall seats in the West Midlands and it is clear that many in our region still like him despite his well-publicised misdemeanours.
Remarkably, 13 per cent voted for Liz Truss, despite her short-lived premiership during which a free-spending Budget crashed the markets and added substantially to the UK’s debt burden.
Tellingly, however, Mr Sunak scores a little better when compared to Sir Keir Starmer. He still lags behind the Labour leader but manages 40 per cent of the vote, showing there is still much work to be done to persuade the British people that Sir Keir is a leader in waiting.
Sir Keir’s inability to score with the electorate on a personal level is a significant failure at a time when many people are looking for change. Only around one in five people believe Mr Sunak has done a good job in the last year and fewer than a quarter see him as trustworthy.
The Prime Minister would have hoped for so much more when he took office on October 25, promising to bring stability in the wake of Liz Truss’s disastrous tenure.
A year on he has suffered embarrassing by-election setbacks in previously safe Tory seats and his MPs are worried about their prospects in the general election expected in 2024.
His own five priorities – halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing the national debt, cutting hospital waiting lists and stopping the boats bringing migrants across the English Channel – have all proved difficult to meet.
