The rather big reason why Keir Starmer should steer clear of Scottish Parliament election
Keir Starmer is the least popular UK Prime Minister since 1977, according to one pollster
With just 210 sleeps left until the next Holyrood election – how much excitement can we take, you may ask – the views of Scottish voters are increasingly occupying the centre of political attention for the whole UK. The Westminster bubble is expanding northwards.
Given what happens here could well decide the fate of the embattled Keir Starmer, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the PM will visit Scotland on “multiple occasions” over the next seven months. His political skin is very much in the game.
READ MORE: Why Scottish Labour believes the party conference has set it up to win the Holyrood election
However, there is a question about how much of an electoral asset he will be. A recent Ipsos poll found just 13 per cent of UK voters were satisfied with Starmer’s performance, with 79 per cent unsatisfied. The net rating of minus 66 was lower than any other Prime Minister since they started doing these surveys in 1977. And yes, that includes Liz Truss, the Prime Minister who failed to outlast a lettuce and slumped to minus 51.
Boris Johnson eventually seemed to take the hint from the Scottish Tories that his presence was counterproductive. Starmer may need to come to a similarly bleak conclusion.
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