Sunak’s Popularity Slumps With U.K. Tories Over Cost of Living
(Bloomberg) -- Rishi Sunak's standing among grassroots members of the ruling U.K. Conservative Party plummeted after the Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered a Spring Statement widely criticized as not doing enough to help Britons struggling with the rising cost of living.
Sunak tumbled to 29th from 11th in a regular league table of Tory ministers attending cabinet, putting him third-from-bottom, with a net satisfaction rating of 7.9. The rating by the ConservativeHome website is determined by subtracting the proportion who say they have a negative perception of a politician from those who have a positive one.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Boris Johnson was out of negative ratings for the first time in three months with a score of 33.1, boosted by his response to the war in Ukraine. It's a significant turnaround after his popularity suffered due to missteps and allegations of rule-breaking parties during the pandemic.
Sunak's fall is a dramatic one for a chancellor who topped the table for much of 2020 as he rolled out successive support programs to help workers and businesses through the Covid-19 pandemic.
His score of 39 last month was already his lowest since become the country's finance minister in February 2020, but his rating has taken a major hit since he delivered a mini-budget on March 23 that still leaves the country on track to its highest tax burden since the 1950s, with Britons facing the worst squeeze on living standards in at least six decades.
Some 58% of respondents told ConservativeHome they took a negative view of the economic statement.
Home Secretary Priti Patel fell into negative ratings at the bottom of the table, scoring minus 13.6 after a slew of negative headlines about her department's handling of refugees from Ukraine.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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