HALF of British voters do not believe there would be any change in the effectiveness of leadership if Andy Burnham was to oust Keir Starmer.
While the Manchester mayor is currently enjoying a higher approval rating to Starmer, with 48% of Labour voters being favourable of him, compared to 42% backing the prime minister, most people do not think he would be a better leader.
The new polling from Ipso found that while Burnham would likely win a head-to-head leadership contest, he would struggle to fully win round voters with 50% thinking that there would be no difference or neither would make a better prime minister, a figure up 11% from May.
Commenting on the findings, Gideon Skinner, senior director of UK politics at Ipsos, said the latest data "is a reminder to all potential rivals in a Labour leadership contest of the challenges ahead.
"While Keir Starmer’s ratings remain poor, those who might be eyeing up a bid for No 10 will need to convince voters looking for change that they have better answers to turn around the entrenched opinion – held for many years now – that Britain is heading in the wrong direction.
"In this context Andy Burnham remains the most popular (or at a minimum least unpopular) current Labour politician, among both the public at large and with Labour voters, but with his ratings seeing a drop this month he still needs to demonstrate he can persuade those currently sitting on the fence about him that he would offer a better alternative."
The survey, which polled a representative sample of 2247 adults across the UK between 5-9 July, also gathered overall favourability ratings for various other high-profile politicians.
While no individual gained a favourability rating higher than 30%, the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch topped the rankings with 28%, although a net -12 when taking the 40% unfavourable rating into account.
Burnham placed third overall, on 26%, behind former prime minister Gordon Brown (27%). On a net-favourability rating Burnham's was one of the highest at -7, compared to Brown's -10 and the poorest net rating of -52 for US president Donald Trump.
Keir Starmer ranked amid the middle of the group, on 20% favourability and 58% unfavourable, for a net rating of -38. Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Prime Minister – a Cabinet position created especially for him – saw the lowest favourability rating of just 9%.
Former health secretary Wes Streeting, who is widely expected to join a, or kickstart, a future leadership contest was among the lowest rated figures on the list, with just 15% being favourable, with 45% being unfavourable.
Nigel Farage was one of the most divisive figures, polling at 26% favourable and -56% unfavourable (net -30), with the Green Party leader Zack Polanski also dividing opinion, with 20% favourable and 47% unfavourable (net -27).
Despite topping the pile, Skinner suggested Badenoch's party would still struggle to win back dissolution voters.
He said: "Kemi Badenoch’s personal ratings are at the highest they have been as Conservative leader, but her party has not improved at the same rate.
"And the public’s core issues continue to worry them: concern over the NHS, cost of living, immigration and economic growth, dissatisfaction with the performance of government, and, on the 10 year anniversary of Brexit, few believing it has had a positive impact, even though divisions remain on what people would like the future relationship to look like."
