Few Britons trust party leaders on the issue, and they trust Musk least of all
The first week of 2025 has seen British politics embroiled in rows over the handling of child sex grooming cases in the 2010s, stoked by social media CEO Elon Musk.
The results of a new YouGov / The Times survey show that Musk’s actions have damaged his already poor reputation in the UK. Seven in ten Britons (71%) now say they have an unfavourable view of Musk – up seven points since our previous poll in November. This includes a 14pt increase in the number with a “very” unfavourable view of the X CEO, to 55%.
Only 20% of the public say they have a favourable view of Musk, a figure within the margin of error from the previous poll’s 18%.
The only group of the public who have a favourable view of Musk are Reform UK voters, with 51% holding a positive opinion. While this is largely unchanged from 54% in November, there has been a significant increase in the number of Reform UK voters with a negative opinion of Musk since then, having risen from 24% to 41%. This could be due to Musk’s behaviour around the child grooming issue, or it could also be a result of his personal attacks against Nigel Farage, who he said was not fit to lead Reform UK.
Who do Britons trust on the issue of grooming gangs?
Having reopened the issue of child grooming cases, Musk finds himself deeply distrusted on the matter. More than two thirds of Britons (69%) say they don’t trust Musk on the issue of grooming gangs, including 57% who say they don’t trust him “at all”. Only 15% say they trust Musk much on the issue, with just 5% saying they trust him “a lot”.
When it comes to which party leaders Britons trust on the issue of child grooming gangs, Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage score equally, albeit with only 26% trusting each. Fewer people trust Kemi Badenoch, at 18%, although this is more a result of people answering “don’t know” – the public are not yet as familiar with the Tory leader as they are her Labour and Reform UK counterparts.
Between 52-58% of Britons say they distrust each party leader on the subject.
A new inquiry vs Jay Review recommendations
Last week saw the Conservatives call a vote in the Commons to set up a national inquiry into grooming gangs. The vote was defeated by 364 votes to 111, with Labour arguing that the priority should be implementing recommendations from previous inquiries into the issue, most notably the 20 recommendations made by Alexis Jay as part of a 2022 review.
A YouGov survey commissioned by the Women's Policy Centre found that fully 76% of Britons support a national independent inquiry into the sexual abuse and rape of children by grooming gangs.
However, when asked which they think is the bigger priority, half of Britons (51%) say they think implementing the Jay recommendations should be the top focus, compared to 31% who say a new national inquiry is more important. Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem voters say implementing the Jay Review suggestions is the priority, while most Reform UK voters would rather a new inquiry were held.
Are Britons confident the same mistakes wouldn’t be made again?
The public tend to think that the police and local authorities would not act the same today in the face of child grooming allegations as they did in the 2010s. Four in ten (43%) feel that lessons have been learned, although a quarter of Britons (25%) expect that they would still act the same way. This latter view is the most common view among Reform UK voters, of whom 48% expect the police and local authorities to repeat their approach.
Public attitudes to other figures embroiled in the row
One of Musk’s targets in the grooming gangs row has been safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, who he accused of being a “rape genocide apologist” and said should be in prison. The results show that 22% of the public have a favourable view of Phillips, compared to 27% with an unfavourable view. This is our first poll of attitudes towards Phillips, so no conclusions can be drawn on the impact of the recent row on the results.
Another figure embroiled in the recent Musk-generated rows has been Tommy Robinson, who Musk has called to be freed from prison. Robinson is widely disliked in the UK, with 61% of Britons having an unfavourable view of him, including 52% with a very unfavourable view. Just 12% of Britons have a positive opinion of Robinson.
While Robinson is unpopular among Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat voters, he divides opinion among Reform UK voters. Four in ten of this latter group (39%) say they have a favourable view of Robinson, while 43% hold an unfavourable view. Nigel Farage has specifically prohibited Robinson from joining Reform UK, and his stance on Robinson may have been the source of Musk’s ire for the pro-Brexit party leader.
When it comes to the main party leaders, none appear to have been affected by the child grooming gangs row, with Keir Starmer, Nigel Farage and Ed Davey’s favourability ratings effectively the same now as they were in the previous polls. Kemi Badenoch has seen her ‘unfavourable’ rating drop from 49% to 45%, although the difference is split between margin-of-error increases in her favourable and “don’t know” figures.
See the full results below
- Elon Musk and trust to handle grooming gangs issue
- Grooming gangs issue priorities and authorities expectations
- Favourability ratings
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Photo: Getty
