Poll: PM trusted to protect rights of women and would beat Keir in a 10k race
And new MoS survey reveals that voters see Starmer as serial policy flip-flopper
WHEN Rishi Sunak threw off the shackles in his speech to the Tory party conference, he opened up slivers of blue water with the Labour Party that can be detected in a Mail on Sunday poll.
Many of the Prime Minister’s advisers have been urging him to overcome his innate caution and engage in the woke wars – encouraged by the mocking reaction to Sir Keir’s claim earlier this year that 99.9 per cent of women ‘haven’t got a penis’. Now, the Deltapoll survey, which also shows a small narrowing of the Labour lead to 15 percentage points, backs the Prime Minister’s view that ‘a man is a man and a woman is a woman’.
A total of 35 per cent of voters agreed that a woman was ‘a human being characterised by female biology’, while just 14 per cent said that ‘trans women are women’. The use of woke terms
‘Virtue-signalling has replaced common sense in the public sector’
such as ‘pregnant person’ is supported by just 11 per cent: 81 per cent want to talk about a ‘pregnant woman’.
Several Tory attack lines are also supported by the findings, including that Sir Keir is ‘Mr Flipflop’ over his policy U-turns. While 37 per cent think he ‘sticks to the decisions he has made’, 42 per cent say that he ‘changes his mind’.
He is also decreed to be a ‘weak leader’ by 43 per cent and to have ‘no real vision for the future of the United Kingdom’.
Unfortunately for Mr Sunak, he is also found wanting on flip-flops, being a weak leader and having no vision.
The millionaire PM’s worst rating is on ‘understanding the problems of ordinary people’ – just one quarter think that he does, while 64 per cent say that he is ‘out of touch with ordinary people’.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s incendiary warnings in recent speeches about the failures of multiculturism and the ‘hurricane’ of immigration find support, with half of respondents wanting a cut in the number of arrivals, and backing for the Government’s policy of sending migrants to Rwanda.
Ms Braverman’s controversial claim that there are many instances of asylum-seekers pretending to be gay in order to gain asylum in the UK – which was criticised by Sir Elton John and other celebrities
– is believed by 41 per cent, while 28 per cent do not think it is happening.
Only six per cent of people agree with the notion that the UK is ‘a racist country’, while voters agree that ‘virtue-signalling has replaced common sense in the public sector’ by a margin of nearly four to one.
Ms Braverman’s comments have helped her to fourth spot in the rankings of the next Tory leader. While Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are joint top, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage – who made a crowd-pleasing visit to the conference last week – is third.
Mr Sunak used his speech to try to present himself as the ‘change’ candidate by distancing himself from his predecessors as Prime Minister.
When asked who ‘is most to blame for the current situation the UK is in’, Boris Johnson is named by 20 per cent, followed by Tony Blair on 16 per cent, David Cameron on 15 per cent and Liz Truss on 13 per cent. Mr Sunak’s surprise introduction by wife Akshata at the Conservative Party conference receives a cool reception – 51 per cent think that spouses should stay in the background – but his ban on smoking is warmly received: 60 per cent support it.
The best finding for Mr Sunak comes when voters are asked which of the two men would be most likely to win 10km running race.
Nearly half – 48 per cent – back the 43-year-old Prime Minister, while 17 per cent think the 61-yearold Leader of the Opposition could sneak it.
Deltapoll interviewed 1,517 British adults online between October 5 and 7.
The data has been weighted to be representative of the British adult population as a whole.