The Conservatives have dropped to their lowest rating since Liz Truss was Prime Minister, losing -3 points over the last two weeks and giving Labour a lead of +17 (25 per cent vs 42 per cent), according to Opinium’s latest poll.
However, not everybody in the Labour party will be celebrating, as Keir Starmer’s approval rating dropped -10 points, giving him a -14 per cent net approval (26 per cent approve vs 39 per cent disapprove).
This is the worst approval rating Opinium has recorded for Starmer since he became Labour leader.
Starmer’s popularity among current Labour voters has dropped from +52 per cent net approval to +38 per cent. Among current Liberal Democrat voters, he has gone from +/-0 per cent to -13 per cent.
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak’s approval rating remains unchanged, with a net disapproval rating of -26 per cent (24 per cent approve, 50 per cent disapprove). Starmer continues to lead over Sunak 27 per cent to 24 per cent on who would be the best Prime Minister.
Starmer has spent much of the last week and a half embroiled in arguments about retaining the 2-child benefit cap – which the majority of voters (57 per cent) support his position on, compared to just over a quarter (29 per cent) who oppose it.
Among Labour voters, 55 per cent support the policy and 32 per cent oppose it.
Inheritance tax seen as too high, but other taxes seen as fairer to cut
Just under half of UK adults (46 per cent) think that inheritance tax is too high compared to only 13 per cent who think it is too low.
Similarly, 46 per cent think if the government chooses to cut taxes, it would be fair to cut inheritance tax while only 26 per cent think it would be unfair.
However, there are 6 other taxes that the public think it would be fairer to cut, including council tax (64 per cent), VAT (59 per cent), fuel duty (58 per cent), basic rate of income tax (56 per cent) and national insurance (52 per cent).
Despite government figures showing that only 4 per cent of estates incur inheritance tax, a third (34 per cent) of UK adults believe they and their family would benefit from the abolition of inheritance tax, including two in five (39 per cent) 2019 Conservative voters.
Adam Drummond, head of political and social research at Opinium said: “In a bruising week for the Conservatives, the party finds itself at its lowest share of the vote since the resignation of Liz Truss, dashing increasingly desperate hopes of a recovery under Rishi Sunak.
“However, the big hit on Keir Starmer’s personal ratings from a row over benefit cuts and a successful exploitation of Labour weaknesses in Uxbridge by London Conservatives suggest there are chinks in the armour for the Opposition.”
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