I’m not ‘rummaging around opinion polls’, Starmer says as Labour support drops

Keir Starmer has said he is not “rummaging around opinion polls” or looking “at what pundits are saying” as Labour’s public support continues to decline.

The Prime Minister said he had not discussed falling polling numbers with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

Speaking to reporters after his speech at the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow, Sir Keir said he was instead “focused on delivering for the people of Scotland”.

Support for Labour at Westminster has decreased significantly since Sir Keir won a landslide election victory in July.

Scottish Labour has also slumped in the polls, a trend that polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice has said is because of Sir Keir’s unpopularity.

The Prime Minister told journalists at the Scottish Event Campus that he did not look at opinion polls.

He said: “I just remind myself that, I think four or five years ago when I became Labour leader, I faced many questions from many people in this room who put it to me that what we’re doing in the Labour Party could never successfully change the Labour Party – wouldn’t put it in a position to win an election, certainly not to win in Scotland.

“We didn’t lose our focus. We were absolutely clear about what we’re trying to achieve, and we got on with it.”

He went on: “Since I’ve been in Government, I’m focused on delivering for the people in Scotland.

“I don’t get up and start rummaging around opinion polls or look at what punters are saying.”

The Prime Minister said he had spent the past few weeks working with Mr Sarwar on his plans for the future of Grangemouth.

During his speech, Sir Keir revealed a £200 million fund for the oil refinery – which is set to close this year with 400 job losses – with another £600 million expected from private investment.

“We’ve been focused on that,” he said.

“We’ve not even discussed the polls. We discussed, ‘can we make sure that the Grangemouth proposition is the very best it can possibly be for the future of Scotland?’

“That’s what I’m going to complete and carry on doing.”

Sir Keir said the announcement on Grangemouth showed “how important Scotland is to me and my Government”.

He added: “And I would say, just imagine what a difference it would make to Scotland if we had a Labour government in Scotland working with a Labour government in Westminster, not in conflict, not voting against a budget that’s actually given lots of money to the Scottish Government to use, quite rightly, for the Scottish people, but actually working together.”

Mr Sarwar added: “We’ve proven the pollsters, the pundits and the commentators wrong before and we’ll do it again next year.”