Terrorism the only issue Starmer handling well, poll finds
Terrorism is the only issue that British people think Sir Keir Starmer is handling well, new polling suggests.
In a damning audit of Labour's first year in office, voters gave the Government bad marks on 14 out of 15 key policy areas, from taxation to immigration.
The YouGov survey, conducted over the past month, makes grim reading for the Prime Minister, who has struggled with plummeting approval ratings since entering No 10.
It indicates the scale of the challenge he faces to win back the public's trust amid the rise of Reform UK, with Labour still reeling from disastrous results at last month's local elections.
Asked how the Government was faring in 15 key policy areas, voters indicated that terrorism was the only one they thought Sir Keir was handling well, with a net score of +3.
The 14 other issues all received net negative ratings, with immigration the lowest at -60, followed closely by taxation on -58 and welfare on -53.
Sir Keir also got bad marks on the economy, with a net score of -52, as well as housing, the NHS, crime, inflation, unemployment, Brexit, the environment, education, transport and defence.
The survey, published on Thursday, was conducted between May 3 and June 2, using a representative sample of 8,538 British people.
It will come as a blow to the Prime Minister before the spending review next week, at which the Chancellor is expected to unveil cuts to day-to-day spending to keep within her self-imposed fiscal rules.
The positive feedback on Labour's handling of terrorism will be encouraging for the Government, suggesting Sir Keir is broadly trusted to keep the country safe.
But the lack of confidence in the Prime Minister's ability to tackle the small boats crisis will concern No 10 as Reform storms ahead in the opinion polls.
A similarly dire score on welfare suggests Sir Keir has work to do to win back Labour's traditional supporters on the Left, many of whom were dismayed by his sweeping cuts to benefits earlier this year.
No 11 will also be disappointed by the lack of faith in Labour's ability to handle the economy, despite Rachel Reeves's attempt to put fiscal responsibility front and centre of her plans.
Sir Keir declared Reform his main opposition last month, setting him up for a battle with Nigel Farage on highly charged issues such as migration and net zero.
Meanwhile, the Reform leader parked his tanks on Labour's lawn by promising to reverse the cut to winter fuel payments for pensioners in full and lift the two-child benefit cap.
The YouGov poll found that nearly three-quarters of voters thought Sir Keir was doing 'very badly' or 'fairly badly' on immigration, compared to just 13 per cent who thought he was doing well.
Labour has been accused of losing control of Britain's borders after close to 1,200 small boat migrants crossed the Channel in a single day.
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