Fewer Than One-in-Ten Think Public Services Have Improved Under The Conservatives

Even Conservative voters don't think schools, hospitals and other public services have got better under their watch

Dec 15, 2023

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Fewer than one-in-ten voters now think public services have improved under the Conservatives, according to exclusive new polling for the Byline Supplement showing that even remaining supporters of Rishi Sunak’s party don’t believe services have got better under their watch.

According to the poll, conducted by pollsters We Think:

61% think their local hospitals have got worse, with just seven per cent saying they have got better
57% say emergency services have deteriorated, with only eight per cent saying the opposite
53% say railways are worse, with just nine per cent saying they are better
60% say roads are worse with just eight per cent saying they have improved
49% say their local schools have got worse, with just nine per cent saying they have got better

Even among Conservative voters, the consensus is that services have either got worse, or remained the same.

Just 15% of Conservative voters said their local emergency services had got better under Sunak’s party, with just 14% saying the same of local hospitals, 13% saying the same of railways, 13% saying the same of roads, and 17% saying the same of their local schools.

Our poll also found that public opinion of the Prime Minister has deteriorated to a point where he is now even less popular than his predecessor Boris Johnson.

According to our poll Sunak now has a net favourability rating of minus 36 compared to Johnson’s rating of minus 26. Sunak’s ratings put him on par with his new Foreign Secretary David Cameron who is also at minus 36 and only slightly above Cameron’s successor Theresa May, who is at minus 38.

All four remain significantly less unpopular than the former Prime Minister Liz Truss, however, who has a net favourability rating of minus 68.

No Tetchiness Here

The apparent decline in Sunak’s standing comes after a bruising couple of weeks for the Prime Minister following the resignation of his former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick and a rebellion among his own MPs on his Rwanda bill. Images of Sunak’s enraged appearance at this week’s Prime Minister’s questions went viral online this week, along with an interview with the Prime Minister in which he denied growing claims of being irritable and “tetchy” under scrutiny.

The Prime Minister denied this allegation, telling the Spectator magazine that “there’s nothing tetchy” about him.

Asked by We Think whether or not they believed the Prime Minister was “tetchy” 46% said they believed he is, compared to just 17% who disagreed.

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