Labour sinks to lowest approval rating of this parliament

Labour has sunk to its lowest approval rating for this parliament, according to a fresh YouGov poll for Sky News.

Sir Keir Starmer's party is currently on 20% of the vote - the lowest level since last year's general election and just three points ahead of the Conservatives on 17% of the vote.

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Nigel Farage's Reform UK, which on Tuesday outlined plans to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants if it wins power at the next election, is currently in the lead with 28% of the vote.

Asked about the polling, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the EU relations minister, told Sky News' Anna Jones that the government had been forced to take "very difficult decisions to stabilise the public finances early in this parliament".

He said Labour had acted in the "national interest" by securing a reset deal with the EU which lowers costs for supermarkets and shoppers, and which the government hopes to extend.

"That is acting in the national interest, that is not about particular opinion polls you are showing me today," he said.

"That is about work the prime minister asked me to do and to prepare for before this government came into office and that is what this government does. It does the hard yards of delivery for the British people."

He added: "What Nigel Farage does is to stoke problems and offer empty promises for their solution."

Mr Thomas-Symonds, who represents Torfaen, took the fight to Mr Farage in a speech today, where he accused the Reform UK leader of wanting to "reverse our progress" and of "dividing communities and stoking anger".

The government wants to get a permanent deal with the EU on food and drink agreed in the next 18 months.

The current temporary agreement, which was put in place in June, stopped checks on some fruit and vegetables imported from the EU, which meant no border checks or fees would be paid, and is due to expire in January 2027.

Mr Farage has previously called for the agreement between the UK and EU to be torn up, saying in May that the SPS [sanitary and phytosanitary] provisions agreed that month would push the UK "back into the orbit of Brussels, giving away vast amounts of our sovereignty for very little in return".

In his speech, Mr Thomas-Symonds said the Tories and Reform UK only offer "easy answers and snake oil" over the UK's relationship with the EU.

"Some will hysterically cry even treason," he said. "Some will say we're surrendering sovereignty or freedoms, but that is nonsense.

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"We are determined to plug the gaps, to rebuild Britain, protect our borders, bring down bills in every part of the country and secure good jobs, a new relationship of mutual benefit, one that brings freedom back to our businesses and exercises our sovereignty.

"And it needs pragmatism. When you're tough, decisive and collaborative. That cannot rest on easy answers and snake oil. The Tories [are] completely 2D, stuck with a ghost of Brexit past. And then Nigel Farage, who has pledged to reverse our progress."

A Reform UK spokesperson said: "No one has done more damage to British businesses than this Labour government.

"With 157,000 fewer people on payroll since Labour took office, their jobs tax is stifling success and hitting small and medium-sized businesses across the country.

"Cosying up to the EU and leaving us entangled in reams of retained EU law which Kemi Badenoch failed to scrap will not resuscitate Britain's struggling economy."

(c) Sky News 2025: Labour sinks to lowest approval rating of this parliament