Boris Johnson is in the polls as 50% of voters, including Tories, don’t know what his “Levelling Up” agenda actually means. Labour has now reached parity with Tories regarding economic competence.

  • The PM made infrastructure and jobs for the poorest part of its post-pandemic strategy
  • However, a YouGov poll suggests that many voters don’t understand how the system works.
  • Unrelated poll finds Labour to be equally capable in the economy. 
  • His approval rating among Tory members for Johnson has fallen to its lowest level ever 










Boris Johnson’s Levelling Up campaign suffered an embarrassing blow as a new poll showed that nearly half of respondents don’t even know what it is and that almost one quarter of them have never heard of the concept.

After the pandemic, the Prime Minister made it a priority to invest money, jobs, and infrastructure in the poorer areas of Britain. This is especially true given that the Tories won a large number of ex-Labour seats during the 2019 election.

YouGov has now done a new analysis and found that many voters, even those who supported the Conservatives in the last election, remain unclear as to its goals. 

50% of respondents had not heard about the plan, but they were still unsure of its meaning. 25% of respondents (26%) said that they’d heard about it and had understood it. 24% were not aware of the plan.

Johnson found it more concerning that most voters voted for Tory 2019. A fifth had not heard of this plan. However, a greater percentage (30%) claimed they knew.

The poll also found half of Brits think that local government spending is too low. This figure rose to two-thirds for the North East, North West and West. Only 17% of Brits feel that local spending in their area is adequate.

The poll was only one in a string of difficult ones for the PM. A separate survey by Opinium   suggested that Labour has drawn level with the Tories in terms of being trusted with the economy.

The Prime Minister has made pouring money, jobs and infrastructure into poorer parts of Britain a key plank of his post-pandemic planning - especially as the Tories took a swathe of former Labour seats at the 2019 election.

After the pandemic, the Prime Minister made it a priority to invest money, jobs, and infrastructure in the poorer areas of Britain. This is especially true given that the Tories won a large number of ex-Labour seats during the 2019 election.

The poll found that half of Brits believe government spending in their local area is too low - rising to two thirds in the North East and North West of England. Just 17 per cent of Brits believe local spending is about right.

According to the poll, half of Brits think that government spending is too low in their area. This figure rises to two-thirds for those in North East England and North West England. Only 17% of Brits feel that local spending in their area is adequate.

At the same time, Mr Johnson has fallen to an all-time low in a Cabinet approval rating poll of Tory members

In the same vein, Johnson’s approval ratings in Cabinet polls of Tory members have fallen to an all time low

Although the firms were at 31 percent, the firm gave them a 10 point lead over YouGov in a comparable question. However, the Conservatives had a 30 to 20% advantage. 

YouGov’s polling was conducted from November 30 to December 13.

However, Johnson is now at an all-time low among Tory members in terms of Cabinet approval ratings.

According to the Conservative Home website, the PM fell to 33.8 percent in a regular poll. It did note that he was still far from its lowest approval rating ever for a PM. That honor went to Theresa May, who received -75 percent in 2019. 

Priti Patel joined him in negative territory, having taken a major hit due to Channel crossings continued by refugees. Mark Spencer is the chief whip, who was criticised over recent calamities that hit the PM such as the Owen Paterson lobbying scam and rebels regarding Covid restrictions.

Liz Truss is still the favorite of rank and file, followed by Ben Wallace, Defence Secretary. After his poor reception and high spending budget, Rishi Sunak (former favourite) fell to sixth. 

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