VOTERS across the political spectrum now want Keir Starmer to resign as Labour leader as the party faces internal strife amid its national conference.
For the first time since Starmer became leader of the Labour party in April 2020, Labour voters have said they want him to resign from his position.
Just 37% of Labour voters want him to remain as leader of the party while 41% want him to resign, according to YouGov polling.
This is a change since the last time YouGov polled voters on Starmer's leadership when they were split equally at 38% remain/resign.
The results came from a YouGov survey that questioned 1804 British adults with polling taking place on Sunday, September 26.
Across voters of all party allegiances, 36% want Starmer to resign as leader and just 31% want him to remain.
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Amongst Tory voters, 38% want him to resign and 31% want him to remain, while the opinion of LibDem voters diverges from the rest with 40% thinking he should stay as Labour leader while just 27% want him to resign.
The bimonthly tracker from YouGov has seen Starmer's popularity decline since July 2020 when 62% of all voters wanted him to stay in his post and remained firmly positive up until April of this year but the result has been much more marginal since June.
📢 BREAKING: For the first time, Labour voters want Starmer to resign (as do voters more generally).
— Stats for Lefties 🏳️⚧️ (@LeftieStats) September 28, 2021
✅ Remain leader: 31% (-2)
❌ Resign as leader: 36% (+1)
[Labour voters]
✅ Remain leader: 37% (-1)
❌ Resign as leader: 41% (+3)
Via @YouGov, 26 Sep (+/- since Aug) pic.twitter.com/wnyPNl9Usw
The Labour leader still lags behind Boris Johnson in who the public think would make the best prime minister with Starmer on 26% and Johnson sitting on 31% in the most recent YouGov figures.
Starmer had been ahead of the Tory PM from August 2020, but that only lasted until February of this year with Johnson overtaking him and maintaining a lead on the Labour leader in the weekly polling data.
Starmer is facing internal strife in the Labour party as they continue in their annual conference which is running until Wednesday, September 29.
A member of the Labour shadow cabinet Andy McDonald resigned yesterday (September 27) while accusing the leader of not honouring “our commitment to socialist policies”.
READ MORE: Shadow minister Andy McDonald resigns with attack on Keir Starmer
McDonald served as shadow employment rights secretary but quit due to Starmer's office instructing him to argue against a national minimum wage of £15 per hour and against statutory sick pay at the living wage.
McDonald was the last member of Starmer's top team who was poyal to former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
It is with deep sadness that I have resigned from Keir Starmer’s Shadow Cabinet, following the leadership’s refusal to back a £15 minimum wage and statutory sick pay at the living wage. pic.twitter.com/dz1KQTj0qR
— Andy McDonald MP 💙 (@AndyMcDonaldMP) September 27, 2021
The move came as Starmer hoped to use his first in-person party conference as leader to define what a Labour government could look like.
The party had been trying to get the Brighton event back on track after an internal row over election rules for future leaders passed despite opposition from the left.
A shout of “Andy McDonald, solidarity” was applauded and cheered by some Labour members in the main conference hall as news of the Middlesbrough MP’s resignation circulated.
The news appeared to take many senior Labour figures by surprise as they were asked about it during the conference.
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