Labour has been handed a double ‘glitter bomb boost’ in the polls after its annual conference was targeted by a confetti-wielding protester.
Sir Keir Starmer‘s party extended its lead over the Tories by two points to 16, while he himself saw his personal rating improve, according to Opinium.
A 28-year-old man was arrested after he rushed the stage before Sir Keir gave his big pitch to be Britain’s next prime minister on Tuesday. yelling that ‘democracy is in crisis’ as he poured the sparkly material over the opposition leader unchallenged.
Sir Keir – who still appeared to have some glitter on his face the following day – joked about the experience, saying it would take more than one ‘idiot’ to derail his plan to take power at the next election.
And it appears voters liked his reaction to what could have been a serious security lapse. His net approval rating has risen nine points, to 1 per cent (35 per cent approve, 34 per cent disapprove). This includes an 18-point increase in approval from 2019 Conservative voters.
In contrast, Rishi Sunak‘s approval rating is -24.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party extended its lead over the Tories by two points to 16, while he himself saw his personal rating improve, according to Opinium.
His net approval rating has risen nine points, to 1 per cent (35 per cent approve, 34 per cent disapprove). This includes an 18-point increase in approval from 2019 Conservative voters.
In contrast, Rishi Sunak’s approval rating is -24.
Starmer has also seen a boost in how the public perceive his leadership attributes, with 37 per cent agreeing he is competent and can be trusted to make big decisions, an increase of seven points in a week.
James Crouch, head of policy and public affairs at Opinium said: ‘Conference season has ended with a return to solid double-digit leads for Labour. But it has been an especially good week for the Labour leader himself.
‘It appears the ‘glitter bomb’ protest and his reaction to it has helped to boost his own ratings and enable his speech to cut through when the news focus has shifted to the Middle East.’
Sir Keir used his speech to warn that another Tory election victory would put the NHS ‘in the ground’ today as he shrugged off an extraordinary security breach during his Labour conference speech.
Sir Keir gave the chilling warning about the health service – reminiscent of Tony Blair‘s ’24 hours to save the NHS’ in 1997 – as he claimed the ‘tide is turning’ for the party.
The Opposition leader insisted he is the person to ‘heal’ the country – but warned it will require a ‘decade of national renewal’. He also confirmed that Labour wants to declassify ‘low quality’ parts of the green belt, dismissing it as the ‘grey belt’ and saying he would ‘bulldoze’ through planning restrictions.
Sir Keir made another effort to distance himself from the Corbyn era, insisting that reform did not mean a ‘cheque book state’ and playing down the prospect of tax hikes. On Israel, he challenged pro-Palestinian activists by boldly branding Hamas ‘terrorists’ for the bloody attacks on civilians.
The Tories complained that Sir Keir had not mentioned immigration, although there was a brief reference to ‘movement of people’ due to climate change.
It came after a separate poll showed a small narrowing of the Labour lead to 15 percentage points, and backs the Prime Minister’s view that ‘a man is a man and a woman is a woman’.
A total of 35 per cent of voters polled by Deltapoll for the Mail on Sunday agreed that a woman was ‘a human being characterised by female biology’, while just 14 per cent said that ‘trans women are women’. The use of woke terms such as ‘pregnant person’ is supported by just 11 per cent: 81 per cent want to talk about a ‘pregnant woman’.
Several Tory attack lines are also supported by the findings, including that Sir Keir is ‘Mr Flip-flop’ over his policy U-turns. While 37 per cent think he ‘sticks to the decisions he has made’, 42 per cent say that he ‘changes his mind’.
He is also decreed to be a ‘weak leader’ by 43 per cent and to have ‘no real vision for the future of the United Kingdom’.
Unfortunately for Mr Sunak, he is also found wanting on flip-flops, being a weak leader and having no vision.
The millionaire PM’s worst rating is on ‘understanding the problems of ordinary people’ – just one quarter think that he does, while 64 per cent say that he is ‘out of touch with ordinary people’.
Content source – www.soundhealthandlastingwealth.com