New polling by think tank Millbank suggests socialist support for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party could have remained steadfast since the party changed hands, despite widespread assumptions that it has dissipated.
After taking the reins of the party in 2020, Starmer appeared to shift the party away from many of the ‘leftist’ policies espoused by his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.
But despite membership data suggesting that this could have split the party, new polling suggests it might not have had the wider impact many believed.
According to Millbank, socialist support for Sir Keir’s revamped Labour offering hasn’t fallen off a cliff-edge at all.
Indeed, there has only been a 2 per cent drop in support since 2019.
The poll found that voters remain ideologically fragmented on the left, however.
While a vast majority of current Conservative voters, 63 per cent, describe themselves as conservatives, among Labour supporters that number drops, with 40 per cent responding either “none of these”, “don’t know” or “other”.
There has also been a surge in the number of people who describe themselves as ‘environmentalists’.
Some 8 per cent of voters now describe themselves as such, a comparable share to liberals and left-wingers.
This could provide an explanation for the Green’s relative strong poll showings whilst highlighting a potential area for the major parties to move into.