Tory Party ratings continue to flatline as trust in Sunak’s ability to Stop the Boats is incredibly low

Three quarters (75%) of Conservative voters say that Rishi Sunak’s action to deliver on his pledge to Stop the Boats has been “slow”, with just 20% saying it has been “quick.”

Two thirds (66%) of the wider UK public also believe his actions have been slow, in polling conducted just before parliament finally passed the PM’s flagship Rwanda Bill.

Even as Rwanda Bill made its way through to the final stages, new polling from Savanta for The Telegraph suggests that over half of UK public (56%) still say they’re unsure whether flights to Rwanda will ever take off, with just a quarter (27%) saying they’re sure they will.

More broadly, just one in five (20%) of the public say that the Stop the Boats pledge has gone well, compared to seven in ten (70%) that say it’s gone badly. It is now the pledge that the lowest proportion of the public say the government have done well on, behind:

• Cutting NHS waiting lists (22%)
• Get debt falling (30%)
• Growing the economy (34%)
• Halving inflation (40%)

Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta said, “Rishi Sunak needs the passing of the Rwanda Scheme to be a game-changer for his premiership. His personal and party ratings continue to flatline, and trust in his ability to deliver in Stopping the Boats is incredibly low, in particular among Conservative voters. This increasingly feels like one last throw of the dice for the Prime Minister.”

“Our research shows that he needs to get a move on. While our findings were taken shortly before the Rwanda Bill passed through parliament, what really comes through is a sense of impatience from voters.

Sunak and this Conservative government have a credibility and delivery gap with voters, which they will desperately hope is addressed by the first flights to Rwanda taking off. It might already be too late for an increasingly cynical electorate.”

The public are broadly split on using the RAF to charter flights to Rwanda, as suggested by the Prime Minister in his recent press conference, with 37% saying they oppose the RAF’s involvement, and 32% supporting it.

However, 52% of Conservative 2019 support the RAF’s involvement, with only 23% opposing. The figures are essentially the opposite for 2019 Labour voters, where 52% oppose and 21% support.