UK PM Rishi Sunak's Approval Ratings Drops Into Negative For First Time Since Taking Office

United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Tory approval rating among Conservative party members has dropped into the negative zone for the first time since he took over the top post in October, 2022.

Sunak's net approval rating has dropped five points to -16 in the past week amid rising discontent in the UK over mortgages, inflation and immigration. This is a significant fall from May when his approval rating was +21.9.

The Bank of England's decision to raise interest rates by 5 percent and the policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda has also worked against the Conservative party in this regard.

It also comes despite his announcement of a £2.4billion plan to boost NHS staffing and reduce huge backlogs in treatment.

Sunak is among nine Cabinet ministers who have negative ratings, a new record and up from six in the previous month. The others include Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, levelling up secretary Michael Gove, and Deputy PM Oliver Dowden.

Constituency-level polling by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft last month found voters were quite evenly divided as to whether they would prefer a Conservative government with Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister (29 per cent) or a Labour government led by Sir Keir (27 per cent) – while 30 per cent wanted neither.

The Tory civil war that has helped the party plummet int he polls is unlikely to die down any time soon.