Sir Keir Starmer has had a tumultuous first few weeks as Prime Minister facing widespread riots, controversies over freebies for MPs and furore over the huge salary his chief of staff Sue Gray receives.
Is Keir Starmer doing a good job as Prime Minister? (Image: GETTY)
Labour has also brought in policies that have caused fury for some, opting to cut the winter fuel payment for millions.
Despite the somewhat chaotic start, the Prime Minister has said Labour is “rebuilding our country” and “change has started”.
However, a poll by Opinium has found Mr Starmer’s approval rating is at its lowest, dipping below Rishi Sunak’s.
During his time in office, the Labour leader has slipped 45 points to -26 percent. His first approval rating as Prime Minister was 19 percent.
Over the same timeframe Mr Sunak’s approval rating has risen by five points, now sitting at -25 percent.
The hammer blow for Mr Starmer comes ahead of the Labour Party conference which begins in Liverpool today (Sunday).
With the conference getting under way, Labour will be keen to divert attention from the heightened scrutiny over pay, gifts and party infighting.
In recent days the Prime Minister, his deputy Angela Raynor and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have come under fire for accepting donations for clothing – something they have now vowed to no longer do.
Another row came over how much chief of staff Sue Gray is paid when it was revealed she is paid £3,000 more than Sir Keir, with a salary of £170,000.
This is something Downing Street has kept quiet about, with the Prime Minister telling The Guardian: “I’m not going to talk about individual salaries for any member of staff.”
And discontent seems to be rife within the Labour Party, following the decision to cut winter fuel payments for millions.
So is Sir Keir Starmer doing a good job as Prime Minister? Scroll up to vote in our poll and have your say in the comments.
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Labour’s Angela Rayner plans huge crackdown and sends warning to rogue landlords
Angela Rayner (Image: Getty)
A crackdown on cowboy landlords will be launched by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner as she pledges to end the “scandal” of poor housing.
Councils and housing associations as well as private landlords will be targeted under measures to be announced at Labour’s conference in Liverpool.
Ms Rayner said: “Whilst many housing associations and councils do their best to support tenants, too many have been let down for too long stuck in substandard and even dangerous homes and we’ve seen the devastating consequences. The work of change has begun.
“For Labour this is not just about building houses at any cost but making houses people can call home. This means ending the scandalous situation where standards for existing and future tenants don’t currently even meet the minimum of safety and decency everyone should expect.”
Labour MP Jas Athwal, who owns 15 properties, has admitted being “shocked and sickened” by the state of flats he rents out to tenants after a BBC investigation found black mould and ant infestations in some properties.
A package announced by Ms Rayner today includes consulting on a new Decent Homes Standard, setting out the minimum standard rented properties should meet, and bringing forward legislation known as Awaab’s Law this autumn, so hazards such as damp and mould are identified and dealt with.
Awaab Ishak died aged two in 2020 after being exposed to mould at his housing association home in Rochdale.
The Government is also to give 2.5 million housing associations tenants the right to access more information about their landlords, helping them to hold the organisations to account, and introduce new conduct standards to ensure staff have the right skills and experience to support tenants when things go wrong.
Ms Rayner will also highlight plans to build 1.5 million homes through a National Planning Policy Framework to be introduced this autumn.
She said: “We’ve inherited a Tory housing crisis. This Labour Government is taking a wave of bold action to not only build the housing our country needs and boost social and affordable housing, but to ensure all homes are decent, safe, and warm.”
