CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak’s popularity among Conservative members has plummeted amid the cost of living crisis, new figures show.

Conservative Home published a monthly Cabinet rankings list, in which party members are asked which ministers they’re most satisfied with at that time.

For several months during his first year as Chancellor, Sunak was consistently ranked as the number one most popular Cabinet member – even reaching net satisfaction ratings over more than 90 points.

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But in late 2020, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss took over as members’ top pick, with Sunak hovering around in the top three for a while.

By early 2022, the Chancellor’s rating was somewhere in the top 15 from month to month.

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Since March’s heavily criticised Spring Statement, the Chancellor’s popularity among Tories has shot down the tables from number 11 to number 32 – making him the third-lowest ranked Cabinet member with a rating of just 7.9.

Only Tory chairperson Ben Elliot (3.8) and Home Secretary Priti Patel (-13.6) are ranked lower.

At the moment, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is seeing a popularity boom and enjoys a ranking of 85.5, right at the top of the chart. This is understood to be linked to his visibility boost since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The latest poll also shows the Prime Minister is out of negative numbers for the first time in three months – suggesting party members have moved on from their anger over Downing Street parties, and are impressed by his handling of the Ukraine situation. However, Conservative Home’s Paul Goodman and Henry Hill note that his 33.1 rating is “lacklustre” given his position.

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Johnson’s place as Tory leader certainly looks more secure than it did at the start of the year, and the threat from his chancellor appears to have subsided.

The SNP are urging Sunak to bring in an emergency budget to ease the pressures of rising costs on people across the UK.

Alison Thewliss, the SNP’s Treasury spokeswoman at Westminster, insisted the recent statement from Chancellor had been a “deliberate choice” by the Government to “ignore the Tory cost-of-living crisis brewing under its watch”.

Thewliss said an emergency budget should convert the recent £200 loan announced to help people with rising energy bills into a “more generous grant”.

The SNP also demanded the increase in National Insurance contributions should be scrapped, and said the £20 uplift to Universal Credit should be reinstated.

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They say VAT on energy bills should either be reduced or removed altogether, with the UK Government urged to follow the example of Scottish ministers and uprate benefit payments by 6%.

Commenting, an SNP spokesperson said: "Rishi Sunak must wake up and smell the cost of living crisis that his party have created. 

"Millions of families across the four nations are facing sleepless nights over the prospect of rising energy and food bills.

"The reality is that the spring statement did nothing to help ease the cost of living crisis, therefore the Chancellor must return to Parliament immediately to deliver an Emergency Budget that will put money into people's pockets - not take it away."

Meanwhile, in the Conservative Home poll, Education Secretary and former vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi is the second-most popular politician among party members with a 66.4 satisfaction rating.

International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay are all not far behind.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, who called for Boris Johnson to resign and then U-turned days before his party’s conference, is fifth-worst ranked on 17.5. Scottish Secretary Alister Jack is a little more well received by party members, and is listed at number 24.