'What do they stand for?': What we learned about Labour from new poll of 7000 voters

LABOUR are losing their “loyal, long-term voters” amid a series of broken promises, U-turns and a perceived lack of respect for the public from Keir Starmer’s Government, extensive new polling has found.

Research involving more than 7000 UK voters, conducted by More in Common and the UCL Policy Lab and published to coincide with the anniversary of Labour’s 2024 General Election victory, will be stark reading for the Prime Minister.

It found:

• Two-thirds of Britons (63%) do not think Starmer respects “people like them”, up from 32% in June 2024.
• More UK voters think now is a “time for change” of government than they did before the Tories lost power (77% now vs 73% in June 2024).
• Four in 10 people who voted Labour in the last General Election say they would not do so again.
• One in five of the people (22%) who have voted Labour in every election since 2010 now say they would not do so again.
• The biggest reason people give for turning away from Labour is broken promises and U-turns on previous commitments (36%).

Marc Stears, the director of the UCL Policy Lab and former chief speechwriter for UK Labour, said: “What voters want to know most of all is: Who does this government stand for? 

“What kind of people does it most respect? Whose interests does it put first? 

“A lot of the electorate thought they knew the answer to that one year ago. Now they’re not so sure.”

Labour’s leaving voters

The research found that, in the year since taking power, Labour have lost the majority of the new voters they won over in 2024. 

In total, 60% of people who voted Labour last year said they would do so again, meaning the party has lost some four in 10 voters.

This includes “loyal, long-term voters” who had backed Labour at every Westminster election for the last 15 years – 22% of whom said they would not vote for the party again.

Starmer’s government was found to be losing support to Reform on the right, and the LibDems and Greens on the left. More in Common said Labour’s voters “are defecting in every direction”.

(Image: More in Common) Of the 11% of Labour 2024 voters who would now back Reform, 44% said it was Starmer’s Government had failed to get immigration under control.

Of the 12% of Labour 2024 voters who would now back the LibDems or Greens, More in Common reported they had changed their views because of a perception that the UK Government is too right wing, and an unhappiness about changes to welfare.

Across all groups, the biggest reason people gave for turning away from Labour was the party having “broken/U-turned on too many of their promises” (36%), followed by failing to reduce the cost of living (31%), and the cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment (27%).

A little respect

The new polling has shown a collapse in the respect the public feel from Labour or Starmer.

Ahead of the 2024 General Election, 41% of people said Starmer respected people like them, while 40% said Labour did. However, this has dropped to just 24% and 22% respectively.

(Image: More in Common)Before the 2024 vote, 32% of people said Starmer did not respect people like them, while 34% said Labour did not. Now, this has risen to 63% for the Prime Minister, while 65% of UK voters say the Labour Party does not respect people like them.

The numbers for Starmer compare poorly to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. In total, 33% of UK voters said Farage respected people like them, while 50% said he did not, for a net rating of -17 against Starmer’s -39.

More in Common said the results show that Starmer’s government “needs to respect ordinary people if it is to rebuild support and deliver on its change message”.

Time for ‘change’

In the 2024 General Election, Labour ran on a slogan saying it was “time for change”. Asked in June 2024, 73% of the public said this aligned with their feelings on the General Election.

However, asked in June 2025, 77% said they felt it was “time for change” in how “the country is being run at the moment”, up four points. 

Asked what’s changed in the year since Labour entered government, by far the most popular answer given was “nothing”.

The second most popular answer, in more damaging news for Labour, was “worse”.

(Image: More in Common) Other top answered words included “cost of living”, “costs”, “increased”, “prices”, “taxes”, “immigration”, and “economy”.

Asked what they consider Labour’s greatest success since entering government, and given a list of options, the most popular response was “none of these” (23%). Second was raising the minimum wage (20%), followed by giving NHS staff pay rises and ending strikes (16%).