Starmer has been criticised by some in his party for sticking to a disciplined stance on public finances, refusing to make any unbudgeted offerings and sometimes dropping policies he believes a Labour government could not afford.
John Curtice, Britain's best-known pollster, said the Uxbridge result suggested the most likely outcome of a national vote was a hung parliament and Starmer might see more debate within the party about his safety first approach.Ĭurtice told the BBC that the Conservatives had an 'awful long way to go' and both leaders had 'been left with something to think about in the wake of these results'. But Labour could struggle to secure a clear parliamentary majority. In national opinion polls, Sunak's Conservatives are trailing Labour by about 20 points, making it difficult to win a fifth consecutive national election. With stubbornly high inflation, economic stagnation, rising mortgage rates, industrial unrest and long waiting times to use the state-run health service, the Conservatives had been braced for the possibility of losing all three seats.