A devastating new YouGov poll has found that a large majority of Britons would describe Keir Starmer’s government as “sleazy”, in damning contrast to the PM’s pledge to ‘clean up’ politics.

Keir Starmer has been branded sleazy by a majority of voters (Image: Getty)

After the Lord Alli row, freebies row and Sue Gray sacking, a whopping 38% told the top pollster that while they expected Labour to behave well, they have since performed “worse than expected”.

These are on top of the 25% who expected Labour to behave badly, and whose expectations have been met.

Just 15% told the pollster that they both expected Labour to behave well, and consider them to have done so since July 5th.

Disappointment in the conduct of the new government is largely uniform across all major parties’ voters, with over four in 10 of Tory, Labour and LibDem backers saying Sir Keir’s leadership over the past three months has been disappointing.

Lord Alli has been at the centre of a number of sleaze rows (Image: Getty)

Overall 59% of the public described Labour as “sleazy”, with one in three going so far as to brand them “very sleazy”.

While this compares favourably to the last Tory-led parliament, who were branded sleazy by 77% of those polled, it’s a blow to Keir Starmer’s reputation after he pledged to clean up politics.

In May 2021, Sir Keir promised to “clean up our politics” after a series of lobbying and cronyism rows under Boris Johnson.

In January this year he repeated a pledge to restore standards in public life with “a total crackdown on cronyism”.

He warned: “Trust in politics is now so low, so degraded, that nobody believes anyone can make a difference any more.”

“After the sex scandals, the expenses scandals, the waste scandals, the contracts for friends – even in a crisis like the pandemic – people think we’re all just in it for ourselves.”

“To change Britain, we must change ourselves – we need to clean up politics. No more VIP fast lanes, no more kickbacks for colleagues, no more revolving doors between government and the companies they regulate.

“I will restore standards in public life with a total crackdown on cronyism.”

Voters are furious with the new government (Image: YouGov)

Three in ten Labour voters now see the new government as sleazy, with voters issuing a damning comparison to Sir Keir’s predecessor.

35% of those asked say this current government is more sleazy than Rishi Sunak’s administration, compared to 23% who say they are about the same and 28% who say it is less sleazy.

However Sir Keir still compares favourably to Boris Johnson’s time in office, with 45% of voters branding the current administration less sleazy.

While Rishi Sunak comes out on top in the poll, when asked to rank what scandals are acceptable and unacceptable voters suggested that the election betting scandal was the most grievous of all – even beating parties during lockdown.

93% said using confidential information to place bets is unacceptable, with 89% saying party gate was unacceptable.

88% used the description over awarding government contracts to party donors, and 84% for giving peerages or honours to party donors.

By contrast 76% oppose politicians receiving gifts such as clothes from party donors, and 59% oppose Sir Keir staying at the penthouse of Lord Alli.

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Rachel Reeves set for major u-turn with ‘mad’ raid on British pensions called off

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has reportedly halted plans for a huge pensions tax raid after she was warned it would hurt public sector workers including teachers and nurses.

Amid warnings Labour is intent on inflicting further harm on pensioners beyond scrapping the Winter Fuel Allowance, Ms Reeves had hope to raise funds by reducing tax relief on those earning just £50,000 a year.

However senior Treasury officials told the Chancellor that reducing the current 40 percent level of tax relief would hit those in good jobs who had dedicated their lives to the public sector.

In one example, a nurse earning £50,000 would face an additional tax bill of up to £1,000 a year.

A senior Government source told the Times that such a move would be “madness” given the Treasury has spent the months since the General Election going to great efforts to give public sector workers huge pay rises.

Ms Reeves’ plan would have clobbered doctors and nurse (Image: Getty)

The move comes after Labour dropped plans to reintroduce the pensions lifetime allowance cap in June, after similar warnings it would impact long-serving doctors and public servants, and force many much-needed professionals into early retirement.

The cap was scrapped by Jeremy Hund during the previous government as part of an attempt to bolster NHS staff numbers, with Ms Reeves blasting the move and pledging to bring it back in order to raise £800 million a year.

Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, warned that a pensions tax raid would lead to public sector employees having to pay 20 percent extra tax on the proportion of their salary paid into a pension, costing them hundreds of pounds a year.

He warned: “I don’t think this is something that Reeves will want to do, not least because it will infuriate public sector unions just weeks after the government agreed pay settlements with them.”

Doctors and nurses would have been hit particularly hard just after their pay rises (Image: Getty)

Unions have also been furiously lobbying against the changes, with chair of the BMA pensions committee Vishal Sharma blasting: “Attacking our pensions in this way would completely reverse this progress by once again taking money away from doctors in a different way.

“Not only would this negate the recent hard-won pay rises but it would likely reignite the recent pay disputes that have been seen across the NHS.”

However pensioners can’t afford to breathe a sigh of relief yet.

Some are still suggesting Ms Reeves could fill the disputed £22 billion black hole by reducing the amount of money people are allowed to take out of their pension pots tax-free when they retire.

The amount is currently set at £268,275, and costs the Treasury around £5.5 billion a year.

Yesterday Silver Voices Director Dennis Reed also warned that Keir Starmer is eyeing up pensioners’ free prescriptions and bus passes after taking the decision to cut Winter Fuel Payment.

He wrote for the Express: “If the Government successfully rides out this storm, they will inevitably squeeze senior citizens further, perhaps by means-testing free prescriptions, bus passes and even the state pension itself.

“It is time for older people to fight for our dignity in our remaining years on this planet.”