Ipsos in the UK

^^ Polling taken before the Gorton and Denton by election.

Half of Britons (52%) think Keir Starmer should stand down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party - and if Starmer was no longer leader of the Labour party, Andy Burnham would be the public's choice for leader.

www.ipsos.com/en-uk/52-bri...

A full house tonight, exploring the shifting perceptions & realities of the UK's culture wars w/ @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social , @ukandeu.bsky.social, The Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, @jburnmurdoch.ft.com, Dr Kate Ferguson, Gideon Skinner & @bobbyduffy.bsky.social

📺 Watch live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIZM...

Full survey conducted with @healthfoundation.bsky.social here 👇
bit.ly/4aDy4N8

The public's joint top priorities for the NHS are making it easier to get appointments at GP practices (36%) and improving access to A&E (36%)🩺

The government's flagship focus - improving waiting times for routine hospital appointments - ranks fourth in the list of public priorities (27%).

UK's sense of urgency on net zero and support for climate policies falls sharply, study finds | King's College London Public support for UK reaching net zero by 2050 is waning

Catch up on our latest culture wars study with
@ipsosintheuk.bsky.social and @cast-centre.bsky.social, on shifting attitudes towards climate policy

⬇️

Our latest survey completed with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social​ tracking the UK public’s views on the NHS and social care shows nearly half of the public (48%) delayed or avoided contacting their GP practice about a health concern in the previous 12 months.

Read more findings 👇
https://bit.ly/4tTv1ru

For more👇
www.ipsos.com/en-uk/more-h...

Brits are concerned about the high levels of debt students end up with as a result of going to uni.

Other concerns:

💷The cost of student loan repayments preventing graduates from being able to achieve key life milestones (68%) – this rises to 81% amongst people currently repaying a student loan.

54% of Britons oppose interest charges on student loans, rising from 41% in May 2023, according to Ipsos data.

Majority of Brits (54%) think students in England shouldn’t be charged any interest rate on their student loans, +13 since May ‘23.

💳15% think they should be charged an interest rate lower than the rate of inflation

bit.ly/3OYivqC

Polanski and Badenoch have both seen improvement in their favourability ratings since January:

Polanksi: net -15 in Jan, to -8 in Feb.

Badenoch: net -27 in Jan, to -18 in Feb.

February leaderboard📊

Whilst Farage tops the list at 31% favourable, Burnham is on his tail with 30%. When it comes to net scores, Burnham fares better than Farage, with a net favourability score of +6 compared to Farage’s -17.

Over two thirds of Britons do not have confidence that the government is running the country with competence or integrity, Ipsos poll reveals Over two thirds of Britons do not have confidence that the UK Government is running the country with integrity (68%), nor that they are running it properly, competently or seriously (69%).

Brits continue to be split on who they would prefer to win the next UK General Election, when given the choice between just a Labour government led by Keir Starmer and Reform UK led by Nigel Farage.

37% Labour ➡️ 39% Reform UK
bit.ly/3MR9A9W

69% of Brits lack confidence that the UK Government is running the country with integrity, and 68% don't think they are doing so properly, competently or seriously 👉 bit.ly/3MR9A9W

📰 6 in 10 (62%) say they have been closely following developments around the release of the Epstein files, including information relating to Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor 👉 bit.ly/3OwKU71

And criticism continues around the Royal Family’s handling of the situation 👉

Only 28% think the Royal Family have handled the situation with Andrew well since allegations were first made against him (down from 37% in Nov).

82% of Brits say they have an unfavourable opinion of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in our latest polling (13-16 Feb) up 5pp since Nov

2 in 3 Brits think the number of people coming to the UK to apply for refugee status or asylum is too high - and at least half do not trust any political parties to have the right immigration policies 👉 bit.ly/40m9s5f

Brits don’t have a lot of confidence in Nigel Farage’s dating etiquette, voting him the most likely party leader to:

❤️Make you pay for the first date
❤️Ghost you after the first date
❤️Dump you over text
❤️Get really drunk on the first date

Polanski and Starmer supporters are more likely to get a date amongst Gen Z, with supporters of Farage and Trump losing out.

Majority of Brits (59%) wouldn’t date a Trump supporter and around half (49%) wouldn’t date a supporter of Farage.

Brits would find it most difficult to be in a relationship with someone who supported Reform UK (40%).

They would find it easiest to be in a relationship with someone who supported the Greens (40%), Labour (39%) or the Lib Dems (36%) 💘

Public back the use of facial recognition for safer streets but are sceptical about AI chatbots, Ipsos poll finds Nearly two thirds (64%) support government plans to fund 40 new Live Facial Recognition vans to scan faces in town centres and high crime areas to identify wanted criminals (17% oppose).

53% of Brits say that they are willing to accept a loss of personal privacy in public spaces if it helps the police catch more criminals 👇

Opposition to ID cards doubles since July, Ipsos poll finds Four in ten (40%) now oppose the introduction of a national identity card scheme, with 32% in support. In July 2025 57% supported and 19% opposed.

ID, please? 🪪 4 in 10 (40%) Brits now oppose the introduction of a national identity card scheme, while 32% support.

In July 2025, 19% opposed the idea and 57% were in support 👇

EVENT: Are Culture Wars Finally Taking Hold?Division, tension and identity in the UK today

Join us, @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social, The Rt Hon Lisa Nandy, @jburnmurdoch.ft.com and an expert panel to explore the shifting perceptions & realities of the UK's culture wars

➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/events/are-c...

👉👉 t.co/6OBCr5mkhl

🟣Majority also don’t like Reform UK or leader Nigel Farage, who are the most polarising with less distinction between party and leader, with people tending to either like both leader and party or dislike both leader and party.

🔵Historic lows for Conservative party and leader Kemi Badenoch on likeability, although ratings aren’t as bad as before the 2024 GE.

Chart showing likability of political parties compared with chart showing likeability of political leaders.

🔴Net likeability ratings for Starmer (-50) equal Corbyn’s previous low, while the party is less liked than any time in Ipsos trends going back to 2007 (-22). But Labour is still more liked than its leader – and more than the other parties.

Only 14% of GB adults chose to stay sober this January, with 53% not considering staying dry.

Of those 14% that chose a sober start to 2026:

🏆53% were successful
🍺19% lasted a few weeks
🍺18% lasted a week
🍺10% lasted a few days