Opinion towards the government has become more negative since January
Key takeaways
- Net government approval has fallen from -47 to -57 over the course of 2025, now roughly level with approval in the Conservative government before they lost the last election
- In voting intention, Labour have fallen the most this year (-8), while the Greens are the biggest gainers (+9)
- Health has become less likely to be seen as one of the most important issues facing the country, while the importance of immigration and welfare benefits has increased
- Belief the government are handling issues badly has risen for 14 of the 15 issues polled, with this up most on unemployment (+13), taxation (+11) and welfare benefits (+10)
- Opinion has shifted most among 2024 Labour voters, a majority of whom now disapprove of the government, have an unfavourable opinion of Keir Starmer, and feel 10 of the 15 issues polled are being handled badly by the government
By the start of this year, attitudes towards the then freshly elected government had already turned negative. Indeed, by the time of our first voting intention poll since the 2024 election, in January, Labour had already fallen nine points from 35% to 26% of the vote.
2025 has not been any easier for the government, leading to a situation where Labour MPs are already talking about replacing Keir Starmer as prime minister. But just how much has political opinion shifted since January?
How has voting intention changed over 2025?
Since our first voting intention poll in January, Labour have fallen a further eight points, to 18% in our latest results, having previously recorded their lowest ever figure (17%) with YouGov in October.
While polls at the start of the year pointed to a close race between parties, Reform UK have since opened a clear lead over other parties, currently standing at 10 points. This is without their vote share growing a huge amount, with Reform UK’s current 28% of the vote relative to 25% at the start of the year.
The biggest gainers over 2025 have instead been the Greens, who are on a record-equalling 17% share in our latest poll, roughly double the 8% they recorded in January.
Labour have not been alone in slipping in the polls, with the Conservatives falling five points from 22% in January to 17% today. On several occasions this year, they recorded shares of 16%, the lowest ever recorded by YouGov for the party.
The Lib Dems have consistently polled between 13-17% in voting intention over 2025, with their latest figure of 14% equal to that recorded in our first poll in January.
Full results for our voting intention tracker available here
How has government approval changed over 2025?
While approval in the government was hardly high at the start of 2025, it has fallen further over the course of the year. Today, just 12% of Britons approve of the government’s record to date, down four points since January, against 69% disapproving of its time in office, up six points.
This leaves the Labour government with a current net approval rating of -57, in a similar territory to the final -56 rating of the Conservative government before the last election.
At the start of the year, 2024 Labour voters were divided 36% to 40% on the government’s record. Now, the government has a clearly negative net approval rating among Labour voters of -30, with just 24% supportive of their government’s time in office, while a majority (54%) disapprove of its record in power.
Disapproval of the government has also risen significantly among Lib Dem and Green voters, to 65% and 76% respectively, while remaining largely static and higher among Conservative (89%) and Reform UK voters (93%).
Full results for our government approval tracker available here
How has the issue agenda changed over 2025?
At the beginning of the year, there were three issues that Britons were most likely to see as one of the top issues facing the country: the economy, immigration and health.
These are still the top three today, by a clear margin, though the proportion of Britons seeing health as one of the important issues facing the country has fallen ten points from 45% to 35%. By contrast, the number seeing immigration as a top concern has risen six points to 51%, placing it on a more similar standing to the economy, which 54% of the public see as a top issue.
The importance of welfare benefits has also increased over the course of 2025, with 17% of the public now seeing it as one of the most pressing concerns in Britain, up seven points since the start of January. Belief housing or pensions are one of the biggest issues facing the country has each fallen five points over the year, to 16% and 5% respectively.
Full results for our most important issues tracker available here
How have views on the government’s handling of issues changed over 2025?
Disapproval of the government’s record is not consistent across policy areas. Of the 15 issues polled, it is highest on immigration, the economy and taxation, with eight in ten Britons (79-80%) believing the government is handling these issues badly. It is lowest on defence (47%) and terrorism (40%), the only two issues polled where less than half of Britons are critical of the government’s performance.
In all but one policy area we track, transport being the exception, this belief has increased since the start of the year, though this has not been even. The increase has been greatest on unemployment (up 13 points, to 67%), taxation (up 11, to 79%) and welfare benefits (up 10, to 72%), with eight point increases when it comes to crime, the economy and immigration.
Notably, this growing belief that the government are doing a bad job has consistently been higher among 2024 Labour voters than among Britons as a whole, including double-digit increases on nine of the 15 issues polled.
The increase has been highest on taxation, with 67% of Labour voters now believing the government are handling the issue badly, up 21 points since January. A similar two thirds feel the economy is being handled poorly, a 16 point increase, with substantial increases in critical feeling on unemployment (up 18 points, to 55%) and welfare benefits (up 17, to 62%).
Altogether, at the end of 2025, a majority of Labour voters believe the government are doing a bad on ten of the 15 issues tracked, and only on defence and terrorism do the government have an outright positive approval rating among those who backed them last year.
Full results for our government handling trackers available here
How have attitudes to key politicians changed over 2025?
Overall, the proportion of Britons with a favourable view of Starmer has fallen six points to 18% since January, while the number with an unfavourable opinion of him has risen seven points to 72%. This includes nearly half of Britons (48%) now seeing the Labour leader very unfavourably.
Most 2024 Labour voters (53%) also now have an unfavourable opinion of Keir Starmer, up 16 points since January, while the proportion with a positive view of the prime minister has fallen 19 points to 39%, converting a +21 net rating to one of -14.
The other substantial shift in attitudes to Starmer has been among Green voters, where an already negative net rating of -40 has fallen to -70 over the course of the year.
The public have become more familiar with Kemi Badenoch over 2025, with the proportion of Britons unsure of their opinion of the Tory leader falling from 35% to 22%. But the net impact of this has been neutral, with favourable and unfavourable opinion towards her both increasing by seven points, to 26% and 52% respectively.
However, this masks diverging shifts among voters. While favourability in Badenoch has risen nine points among 2024 Conservatives since January (to 62%) and twice that among Reform UK voters (to 50%), it has remained near-static among Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters, among whom negative opinion has risen, including 14 points among Labour voters.
While he might have been one of the highest profile political figures this year, public opinion on Nigel Farage is seemingly relatively settled. Both the 29% of Britons with a favourable opinion of him and the 64% with an unfavourable view of the Reform UK leader today are not statistically significantly different to the same figures in January. However, the proportion with a very unfavourable view of Farage has increased by six points to 53%.
Negative opinion towards Ed Davey has increased by six points over the year to 36%, while the number with a favourable view of the Lib Dem leader is unchanged relative to January at 26%.
The greatest shift of all has been with Rachel Reeves, with the proportion of Britons with an unfavourable opinion of the chancellor increasing by 20 points since January to 71%, while the number seeing Reeves in a positive light has fallen six points to 12%.
This has included 2024 Labour voters going from being divided 38% to 33% on Reeves, to seeing her negatively by a margin of 56% to 27%.
Full results available here for our January and December favourability ratings
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Photo: Getty
