UK Conservatives lagging behind Labor party in opinion poll

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
8 Oct 2022 19:05

Is it that expectations were set too high for Truss who can barely deal with important issues like inflation and the high costs of living?

British PM Liz Truss and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer

A poll conducted by UK research agency YouGov revealed on Saturday that the Labour Party has retained a considerable lead over the Conservative Party, which confirms the embarrassing results of previous opinion polls on Prime Minister Liz Truss.

The results which were based on the opinions of 1,737 British adults and between Thursday and Friday for The Times newspaper showed that the Labour party topped the Conservatives at 52% to 22%, despite that the Labour party was down by two points while the Conservative party was up by one point.

The poll was conducted right after Truss delivered a speech at her first annual conference of the Conservative party since assuming the premiership, in which she defended her plan to solve the cost of living crisis with the presentation of a mini-budget that heavily outraged the Brits over its inefficacy which is said to only benefit the wealthiest of the wealthiest over the poorest in the country.

The mini-budget that was revealed on September 23 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwareng, which included huge tax cuts funded by a significant increase in borrowing, led to a sharp slide in UK bonds and currency, where the Sterling hit a 41-year low against the dollar, and an extremely negative reaction from the financial markets, which the PM is accused of totally ignoring when it came to making major economic decisions.

Truss and her Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng later announced on October 3 that they would scrap the top rate of income tax following a growing Conservative revolt over the policy and a turbulent reaction from markets.

Since former PM Boris Johnson had left office following a slew of scandals, expectations were set too high for Truss who can barely deal with important issues like inflation and the high costs of living. Prior to her victory over Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, Truss had promised to “deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy" amid predictions of a recession in the UK.

The British PM has been in an ongoing fight to hold her job since reaching office nearly one month ago. The former chancellor of the Conservative party, Ken Clarke, labeled the Truss government to have initiated a “catastrophic start” (referring to the mini-budget plan).

Moreover, a previous poll conducted by the same polling agency revealed on September 30 that half of the British population thinks that Truss should resign. The 4,918 participants surveyed in the poll conducted revealed that only three percent think the mini-budget had the right ideas and only a quarter of them think she should remain in office, while more than half also thought Kwarteng should resign.

The next elections are expected to take place in 2024.