Rishi Sunak faces the wrath of homeowners with nearly nine out of ten with a mortgage saying they are dissatisfied with the Government, a new poll revealed on Friday.
The Ipsos survey for The Standard also showed Labour extending its lead over the Tories, to 22 points, compared to 16 points last month, as economic gloom grows in Britain.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party is now on 47 per cent (up three points), Mr Sunak’s on 25 per cent (down three point), the Liberal Democrats unchanged on 13 per cent, and the Greens up two points to eight per cent.
The Prime Minister’s personal ratings are also slipping, with those dissatisfied rising four points to 59 per cent.
Eight out of ten adults are dissatisfied with the Government, up four points since May, with just 12 per cent satisfied, down three points.
The detailed data by home tenure showed that:
* Among homeowners with a mortgage a staggering 87 per cent are dissatisfied, with just nine per cent satisfied.
* For people who own their home outright, the figures were 77 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.
* Among renters, the breakdown was 76 per cent to 14 per cent.
The poll was carried out before the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee’s shock 0.5 percentage point hike in interest rates to five per cent on Thursday.
But the MPC had already raised interest rates 12 times from 0.1 per cent in December 2021 to 4.5 per cent last month.
The fieldwork was also done as Westminster was gripped by Boris Johnson’s resignation as an MP ahead of the Privileges Committee’s report which found he deliberately misled Parliament over “partygate”.
Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos UK, said: “It’s been a difficult few weeks for the Conservatives, with the re-emergence of partygate and continuing concerns about inflation and interest rates.
“This is reflected in our polling data on the fundamentals of government performance and the economy – 80 per cent government dissatisfaction is well below the long term Ipsos average, and has only ever been worse under John Major 1992-95 and Theresa May in 2019.”
He added: “Rishi Sunak’s personal ratings have also taken a dip, and while Keir Starmer’s ratings are also only average this hasn’t yet stopped Labour reinforcing its lead.
“Delivery on the economy and public services will be key to hopes the Conservatives might have of kick-starting their recovery, but at the moment there is a distinct lack of optimism among the public – particularly mortgage holders and renters - that things will get better.”
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was meeting lenders on Friday, piling pressure on them to be flexible with people struggling to pay their mortgage, for example by allowing them to extend the length of their home loan or move it at least temporarily to interest only.
Labour is adopting a similar stance but shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves says her party would “instruct” rather than just ask banks and building societies to offer such flexibility.
The survey, though, found that 58 per cent of adults now expect the general economic conditions in Britain to get worse over the next 12 months, up from 54 per cent in May.
Just one in five, 21 per cent, believe the economic situation will get better, down from 24 per cent last month.
Homeowners were warned on Thursday, before the MPC’s 0.5 percentage point interest rate rise, that a two-year fixed rate mortgage could hit seven per cent as the BoE fights entrenched inflation, at 8.7 per cent in May.
A seven per cent mortgage rate, being renewed from a two per cent rate, could add £990 to monthly bills on a £350,000 home loan with 25 years to run, or £11,880 a year.
For a household with a £150,000 home loan with 15 years to run, monthy payments would rise by £383, or nearly £4,600 a year, if the rate increased from two per cent to seven per cent.
The average two-year fixed mortgage rate nudged up by Thursday morning to 6.19 per cent, from 6.15 per cent the previous day, according to Moneyfacts.
The average five-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 5.82 per cent, from 5.79 per cent.
The poll also highlighted the growing electorate woes facing Mr Sunak, with 70 per cent of 2019 Conservative voters dissatisfied with the Government; even among current Tory supporters six out of ten share this view.
Just 28 per cent of all adults say they are satisfied with the Prime Minister, and his net approval rating is -31, similar to his previous low of -32 in February.
Six out of ten current Con supporters are satisfied with him, a figure which falls to 48 per cent for 2019 Tory voters, but among this group just 20 per cent are satisfied with Sir Keir.
For the Labour leader, 31 per cent are satisfied, no change on May, 49 per cent dissatisfied, down one point, giving a net score of -18.
Just over half, 56 per cent, of current Labour supporters are satisfied with him.
For Lib-Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, 23 per cent of all adults are satisfied, down two points, 34 per cent are dissatisfied, up two points, giving a net score of -11, but 43 per cent say “don’t know”.
* Ipsos interviewed 1,033 British adults 18+ by telephone 14-20 June. Data are weighted. More details at www.ipsos.com/en-uk
