Labour's slide in the polls is entirely explainable

The sense that nothing much has changed – or is likely to any time soon – has harmed the party’s standing

Photo: Number 10 / Wikimedia Commons

As many political observers have noted, the Labour government’s honeymoon is over. In fact, it never even began. The opportunity to bask, even for just a few weeks, in the afterglow of its victory at the polls – a privilege extended to most newly-elected governments – has been denied to Sir Keir Starmer and his administration.

Some may be surprised at the lack of goodwill for a government that swept to power on a huge landslide just 11 weeks ago. I am not one of them. Though Labour’s slide in the opinion polls so soon after its election success certainly troubles me – I am, after all, a party member of 30 years’ standing – it is all entirely explainable. What’s more, I fear that things are about to get worse quite quickly for Starmer.