Starmer Urged To Rebuild Emotional Bond With Voters

Keir Starmer has been told his government needs to win back voters’ hearts as well as their heads. In a tense Downing Street meeting, his chief of staff flagged that ministers are struggling to connect emotionally with the public — and that fixing that gap is now a priority. The prime minister pushed his cabinet to ignore the polls and prepare to take on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, describing the contest ahead as existential for his party. Ministers were shown a plan built around three priorities: emotion, empathy and evidence — a trio designed to restore trust and make policy feel relevant to people’s everyday lives. A No 10 source rejected one account’s wording that a “deficit in emotion” had been used. The urgency is driven by unsettling poll numbers. A recent YouGov survey put the Conservatives ahead of Labour for the first time since the election, with both parties trailing Reform and Labour on just 17%. Strategists in No 10 were reportedly told not to panic, with comparisons drawn to other governments whose ratings plunged early on before recovering. Part of the recovery work looks outward. Starmer’s team is studying how centre-left governments in Norway, Canada and Australia managed comebacks — often by prioritising cost-of-living issues — though in the latter two cases the rise of Donald Trump was also a complicating factor. Domestically, Starmer has tried to refocus ministers on bread-and-butter messages: frozen rail and bus fares, community funding and extending energy support. But converting policy into political credit is proving hard. A planned Reading visit to showcase frozen fares was upstaged by international crises — a US raid on Venezuela and threats involving Greenland — underlining how foreign events can drown out domestic messaging. Starmer left for a Paris meeting on Ukraine, pressing colleagues to maintain a tight domestic narrative despite disruptive headlines. Behind the scenes, the leadership is changing tactics. Deputy leader Lucy Powell told colleagues the party will adopt an “incumbency first” approach, shifting resources to help sitting MPs safeguard their seats by learning how to take public credit for local benefits. Labour HQ will offer workshops to show MPs how to highlight government wins — from the warm home discount extension to community and high-street investments. Legislation to remove the two-child benefit cap, expected to lift almost half a million children out of poverty, will be a focal point of that effort. The message from No 10 is clear: policy alone won’t win elections — people must feel seen and heard. The question now is whether the new training and a sharper focus on everyday costs can turn low approval ratings into voter goodwill before Reform’s surge becomes permanent. --- Managing your business finances? TaxAce provides smart online accountancy services for UK businesses with flexible monthly plans. Image and reporting: https://www.theguardian.com | Read original article