Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch’s figures recover after falling to record lows last month
Keir Starmer favourability, June 2025
Last month’s favourability ratings made for difficult reading for Downing Street, with Keir Starmer recording his lowest net rating on record, including a net negative score among Labour voters for the first time. But at present, it appears that this dip, which followed disappointing local election results and a controversial speech on immigration, may have been temporary.
Nearly three in ten Britons (28%) have a favourable opinion of Keir Starmer, up five points since this time last month, while the proportion of the public with an unfavourable view of the prime minister has fallen seven points to 62%. This gives Starmer a net favourability rating of -34, up from -46 last month.
Starmer’s recovery is largely off the back of an improvement among Labour voters, among whom the Labour leader now has a net rating of +18, up 23 points from -5 last month. This is, however, below the +29 score the prime minister held among Labour voters in April.
Among Lib Dem, Conservative and Reform UK voters, Starmer’s figures are largely unchanged from May.
Views of the Labour Party have improved at a similar rate over the last month, with 31% of the public having a favourable view of the party, up from 26% in May, while the proportion of Britons with a negative opinion of Labour has fallen from 65% to 61%.
Rachel Reeves favourability, June 2025
Keir Starmer is not the only Labour figure who has had a small popularity boost in the last month. Just after her delivery of the Spending Review, one in six Britons (18%) have a favourable opinion of chancellor Rachel Reeves, up from 14% last month and her best result since January.
This is, however against 60% of Britons holding an unfavourable opinion of the chancellor, giving Reeves a net figure of -42. While this is an improvement from -48 last month, she continues to have a net negative score of -7 among Labour voters.
Kemi Badenoch favourability, June 2025
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also took a hit last month and has likewise seen a recovery. One in five Britons (19%) have a positive opinion of the leader of the opposition, a three point increase since May, while a majority (53%) see her in an unfavourable light. Badenoch’s net rating of -34 is up from -39 last month, and identical to Starmer’s figure.
Nigel Farage favourability, June 2025
Nigel Farage bucks this trend, with his latest net favourability score standing at -31, compared to -27 last month. Three in ten Britons (30%) have a favourable opinion of Farage, while roughly twice as many (61%) have a negative view of the Reform UK leader.
Other high-profile political figures, June 2025
Around a quarter of Britons (27%) have a favourable opinion of Ed Davey, while a third (32%) have an unfavourable view of the Lib Dem leader, giving him a net rating of -5.
Despite hitting the headlines after his confrontation of fare dodgers on the Tube, public opinion of Robert Jenrick has not shifted significantly since he became shadow justice secretary. In mid-November, when we last asked, 14% of Britons had a favourable view of Jenrick, while 33% had an unfavourable one. Now, 13% see the former cabinet minister in a positive light, while 34% see him negatively.
Years after their frontbench careers ended, former party leaders Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn continue to be very unpopular with the public, with them viewed positively by 28% and 24% of the public respectively, while more than six in ten (62-63%) see the pair who contested the 2019 election unfavourably.
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Photo: Getty