Keir Starmer savaged as Brits reveal Labour will only make things worse in 2025 | Politics | News

Sir Keir Starmer‘s hopes of raising the nation’s spirits in 2025 have been hit with a major blow after a New Year Poll revealed that half of Brits believe next year will be worse for the country than the last.

The survey, which was conducted by pollsters More in Common and polled 2,400, found that a mere 23 per believe it will be better, with around a quarter (27%) saying the next 12 months will remain the same.

Among those that believed it would be worse, 18 per cent said they think it will be “much worse”, The Telegraph reports.

Labour voters offered a more optimistic assessment, with almost half (48%) saying it will be better, and 30% saying it will be worse.

Supporters of Reform UK, which has been a thorn in the Labour government’s side since the election, were found to be the most pessimistic, with 65 per cent the year ahead will be worse, and it was only slightly lower among Tories (64%).

The survey also found that two-thirds of the public the Labour government won’t be able to deliver on either reducing NHS waiting list numbers or bringing down the number of migrants arriving in the UK via perilous small boats crossings.

Around 66 % said Labour seems like “more of the same” compared with the previous Conservative government, and only 34% said they appear to be geniunely different.

More in Common’s executive director Luke Tryl said the survey showed a “pervasive sense of national gloom which has set upon us”, which he put down to the public’s continued disillusionment with the Government and disappointment in Labour’s perceived failure to deliver on the promised “Change agenda”.

“There is a double effect,” he continued. “Things have felt so bad for so long that people are finding it difficult to imagine them not being bad. But it also relates to the disappointment with this Government.

“We thought things would get better and they haven’t. So we are now less convinced that they will get better.”

“It’s interesting that people hate the ‘difficult decisions to fix the foundations’ stuff. That contributes to the gloom because people are not being offered a particularly optimistic vision for the future,” Tryl added.

“The narrative has to move on from the Tories left us with this incredible mess. Now it has got to be: what is it going to look like when we get past this difficult position. You have to give people hope.”

The pessimism also extends to global concerns, half of those surveyed saying AI is likely to cause serious global job losses, with 34% against, and 57 per cent believing record high world’s temperatures are ahead in the coming months – only 27 per cent believed it’s unlikely.

Meanwhile, 36 per cent fear that the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine could spiral into a global conflict.

However, 42% of the public is confident of the UK securing a long-awaited trade deal with the US, compared to 34% against, and despite the gloomy outlook, 56% believe Sir Keir that he is likely to still be in post at the end of next year.

Earlier this month, Sir Keir announced in an article for The Sun on Sunday the beginning of a new phase for his government under what he calls a “plan for change” for Britain.

The Labour leader said the strategy is “the most ambitious yet honest delivery plan in a generation” and the government is “knuckling down” making good on its election promises, BBC News reports.

Pointing to the “dire inheritance” left by the previous government, with “crumbling public services and crippled public finances to face up to”, Sir Keir acknowleged that change would take time.

“These are major problems that can’t be fixed overnight,” he said. “I make no bones about that, and there’s no point pretending otherwise. Meaningful change is not easy to deliver,” he added, while ackowledging there may be “obstacles and blockers – maybe even protests” to the reforms he is proposing.