Keir Starmer clinging on is bad news for Labour in the long-term

Posted at 4pm UK time

The Conservatives have been handed their second by-election defeat. Those I know who were on the ground credit this to a lack of actual engagement and visibility with voters and a general organisational mess by CCHQ to turn out their supporters to vote. However, the narrative so far is that Labour’s victory means the party ‘is back’, according to their leader, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Starmer’s ratings are still rock bottom with the public and he has failed to make the sort of gains in the polls you would expect after the shambolic Hancock affair. From where I’m standing, Keir Starmer clinging on is bad news for Labour into the long-term and the overly-confident words from the leader of the opposition are not yet justified.