UK voters warm to new British PM Rishi Sunak, not Conservative Party | Daily News Byte

Rishi Sunak has been the Prime Minister of Britain for a month. In the tumultuous world of UK politics in 2022, that is quite an achievement.

Sunak took office a month ago, stabilizing the nation after the short tenure of predecessor Liz Truss.

Britain’s first colored prime minister, Sunak has stabilized the economy, reassured allies from Washington to Kiev and even calmed the European Union after years of wrangling between Britain and the bloc.

But Sunac’s challenges are just the beginning. They are facing a slowing economy, a cost-of-living crisis – and a governing Conservative Party that is fractured and increasingly unpopular after 12 years in power.

Partial popularity

Opinion polls have good news and bad news for Sunak. The public loves the 42-year-old former investment banker, but his party is another matter.

In a survey by pollster Ipsos, 47 percent of respondents said they liked the prime minister, while 41 percent disliked him.

“It’s certainly better than Boris Johnson was getting earlier this year,” said Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos.

But he said Sunak’s popularity “shows no signs of rubbing off on the Conservative Party brand”.

In the same survey, the Conservative Party was favored by just 26 per cent and disapproved by 62 per cent – the worst figures for the party in 15 years. The Ipsos phone survey of 1,004 adults is believed to be accurate within plus or minus four percentage points.

Many voters welcome Sunak as a change from Truce and his predecessor Johnson, who resigned in July after three scandal-plagued years. But the party has been in power since 2010, making it difficult for conservatives to avoid blame for the country’s financial woes.

Allegations of misconduct are also tarnishing his image. On Wednesday, Sunak appointed a senior lawyer to investigate allegations of bullying against his deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab.

It is not impossible for the Conservatives to rebuild their popularity before the next election in late 2024. But it won’t be easy. Current polls suggest the Labor Party will win handily.

Sick economy

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Britain’s then-treasury chief gained popularity by spending billions to support shuttered businesses and pay furloughed workers.

Now he has to deliver bitter medicine. Britain’s economy is under pressure due to the pandemic, Brexit and especially Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has sent global energy prices skyrocketing.

Millions of people in Britain have seen their energy bills rise, although government-imposed caps have also prevented higher prices. Britain’s National Health Service has experienced record waits for healthcare due to pandemic-related backlogs and staff shortages.

The situation was worsened by Truce’s ill-advised September package of unfunded tax cuts, which torpedoed the UK’s reputation for economic prudence, weakened the pound, raised borrowing costs and triggered emergency central bank intervention. Truce resigned last month after less than two months on the job.

“I fully appreciate how difficult things are,” Sunak warned of “difficult decisions ahead” in his first address to the nation on October 25.

Last week’s emergency budget helped calm the pound and markets – at the cost of £25 billion (NZ$48 billion) in tax increases and the prospect of cuts in public spending.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development predicted this week that the UK economy would shrink by 0.4 per cent in 2023 and grow by just 0.2 per cent in 2024, the worst outlook among the Group of Seven industrialized nations.

War in Europe

Boris Johnson’s departure caused concern in Kiev, where his staunch support for Ukraine’s resistance to Russian aggression was admired and respected.

Britain has given Ukraine £2.3b ($4.4b) in military aid since the start of the war, more than any other country except the United States, and has lobbied allies to do more to help Kiev.

Sunak traveled to Kiev last week to reassure President Volodymyr Zelensky that Britain’s policy would not change under his leadership.

“I am proud of how the UK has stood by you from the beginning,” Sunak told Zelensky. “And I’m here today to say that the United Kingdom will stand with Ukraine.”

London is continuing its flow of support, announcing last week that it would deliver anti-aircraft guns, anti-drone technology and three Sea King helicopters to Ukraine.

But while support for Ukraine is secured, defense spending may fall. Sunak reneged on a commitment made by Truss to increase defense spending to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2030.

Brexit headache

Britain’s relations with its closest neighbors and biggest trading partners have been strained since it left the now-27-nation European Union in 2020. Both Johnson and Truce were happy to unite the bloc to appease the powerful Eurosceptic wing of the Conservative Party.

Sunac is more modest, making warm calls to European leaders in the days since taking office. Given the power that fervent Brexiters hold within the Conservatives, concrete change is more difficult to achieve.

Britain’s departure from the EU in 2020 brought customs checks and other barriers to trade with the bloc, sparked a political crisis in Northern Ireland and ended the free flow of EU citizens to Britain to fill job vacancies.

Britain could ease trade frictions if it agreed to align with EU rules in some areas, such as veterinary or food standards. But after reports that the government was seeking closer ties with Eurosceptics, Sunak said this week he would not accept “alignment with EU laws”.

David Hennig, a trade expert at the European Center for International Political Economy, said the reaction “revealed how deep Europe’s problem is for Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party”.

He said Sunak is a long-time Brexit supporter, but also a pragmatist who “just wants a relationship that works – and that’s clearly not the case at the moment.”

“I think the problem is that he doesn’t have any fresh new ideas about how to make it work, and there’s a lot of internal opposition,” Hennig said. – Ap