Ahead of a crunch week for the government, two polls found Andy Burnham’s Labour party now has a clear eight-point lead over Conservative and Reform rivals
Andy Burnham will mark 100 days in office on Tuesday(Image: Temilade Adelaja/Press Association)
Andy Burnham’s “resurgent” Labour has secured a boost in the polls – as the Prime Minister prepares to mark his 100 days in office.
According to two surveys published this weekend, Mr Burnham’s party now has an eight-point lead over Tory and Reform rivals. Pollsters Ipsos said it was the largest lead it had recorded for Labour this Parliament.
It comes ahead of a crunch week for the government, with Mr Burnham set to mark 100 days in Downing Street on Tuesday – 24 hours before Chancellor John Healey delivers the Budget.
Ipsos found 32% said they will vote Labour at the next general election – a 5-point increase on last month – compared to 24% for Kemi Badenoch’s Tories. The survey also shows Nigel Farage’s embattled Reform trailing in third place on 20%.
Director of politics at Ipsos in the UK, Keiran Pedley, said: “Whilst the headline figures do show a striking change, they confirm a pattern we have been seeing in the underlying data for some time.
“The Labour Party under Andy Burnham is resurgent, consolidating voters on the left behind them. On the right, the tectonic plates have been shifting recently and now this is reflected in the Conservatives – not Reform UK – being in a clear second place.”
But he added: “We should be mindful against overreacting to one poll.
“The Government faces a challenging budget this coming week and the lesson of the last year is the British politics is volatile. The picture today is very different to six months ago and it could be different again in six months’ time too.”
Meanwhile pollsters Opinium also found Labour had an eight point lead on 30% with Nigel Farage’s embattled Reform trailing in second place on 22% and the Tories on 20%.
It also found the Greens on 10% and the Liberal Democrats on 9%.
Mr Burnham has repeatedly ruled out the prospect of an early general election. But if Labour continues to improve its position in the polls it will reignite speculation over an early vote.
Asked by ITV Calendar in September whether the next election would be in 2029, Burnham said: “Well, yes, that’s when the next election will be.
“All of this speculation on an early election – I can knock that dead.
“You know, people want me, new in office, to be getting on with the job of delivering on the things that we’ve discussed, rather than putting self-serving politics before that, which was what I would be doing if I call an election. I’m not going to do that.”
