Blow for Labour as popularity falls in Scotland after general election

UK and Scottish Labour leaders Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar's popularity has plummeted in Scotland, new polling shows.

The ratings are the lowest ever recorded for the Labour pair in the Scotland Political Pulse monitor from pollsters Ipsos.

Most respondents – 76 per cent – said the Scottish economy is in a weak state and half think the Scottish Government is performing badly on this.

But compared with March, fewer people now think Scottish Labour would do better than the SNP.

And though their net favourability ratings are still in the negatives at around -11 each, First Minister John Swinney and Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes came out as the best-rated politicians.

In comparison, Prime Minister Starmer scored -23, dropping by 6.5 since March. Sarwar fell by 4.5 to -16 over the same period.

The 1,000 people surveyed were also more negative towards the Scottish Labour Party itself, with the party ranking down to -13.

More than half of respondents (54 per cent) said the country is heading in the wrong direction, while fewer than one in five (18 per cent) think it is heading in the right direction.

Previous Conservative governments at Westminster, Brexit, previous Scottish Government decisions and the pandemic are all blamed for the state of the economy and 46 per cent of those asked said the situation will get worse over the next 12 months.

A total of 63 per cent are not confident that the SNP has a good long-term economic plan, and 64 per cent said the same about Labour's plan for the UK.

The Scottish Government has done badly on the economy, NHS, education and living standards, according to most of those surveyed. 

But pollsters found the public is "less likely to think that a Labour Scottish Government would do a better job" than it was six months ago.

Ipsos said: "Across all policy areas asked about in our poll, the public are most likely to say that a Labour Scottish Government would 'make no difference'"

Emily Gray, managing director at Ipsos Scotland, commented: "In his speech to the Labour Party conference this week, Anas Sarwar set out his ambition for the party to 'finish the job' it started at the 2024 general election by removing the SNP from power at the next Holyrood elections in 2026. This poll shows Labour still has a long way to go if it is to turn that aspiration into reality. 

"The Scottish public are less favourable towards both Labour leadership and party now compared with six months ago, and currently the majority are not persuaded that Scottish Labour would perform better in government than the current Scottish Government."

She went on: "The results also make grim reading for the SNP, with the Scottish Government receiving a negative scorecard from the public across key issues such as the NHS, living standards and the economy."