UK

Starmer and Sunak neck and neck on the economy among over-65s as Reeves woos City with major speech

Daniel Green

LABOUR LIST

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Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are close to neck and neck on the economy among those aged over 65, a new poll shows as Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to make a major economic policy speech tonight.

Ahead of Reeves’ delivery of the annual Mais lecture to a financial audience in the  City of London, a poll from Redfield and Wilton Strategies last night gave the Labour leader only a slender leader over the Prime Minister on who is trusted to build a strong economy. Starmer was on 35% and Sunak 33%. Some 31% said they didn’t know.

Yet Starmer had a lead on the economy among every demographic, strongest among those aged 18-24 and 25-34, with a 22-point lead among both age brackets. Labour’s overall poll lead in voting intention has also jumped eight points in the past week, according to the pollster, with a 26-point lead over the Conservatives.

Among the over-65 demographic, which the Conservatives have typically performed well with at recent elections, Labour leads by 10 points, with 40% compared to 30% for the Tories. Some 14% of over-65s told the pollster they plan to back Reform UK when the country next goes to the polls.

Following the Budget, Labour have sought to appeal to older voters by claiming Conservative ambitions to scrap National Insurance could come at the cost of health expenditure or pensions.

The data comes as Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to make a major speech in the City of London later today. She is expected to promise to bring about “a new chapter” in the UK’s economic history.

Reeves will also set out how an incoming Labour government will deliver Britain’s economic recovery on “strong and secure foundations” to unlock growth.

She is expected to say: “As we did at the end of the 1970s, we stand at an inflection point, and as in earlier decades, the solution lies in wide-ranging supply-side reform to drive investment, remove the blockages constraining our productive capacity, and fashion a new economic settlement, drawing on evolutions in economic thought.

“A new chapter in Britain’s economic history. And unlike the 1980s, growth in the years to come must be broad-based, inclusive, and resilient.”

The Observer reports she will also downplay the prospects of fully reversing Tory austerity, saying “no one election” will wipe away the Tory inheritance.

“There can be no clean slate. We must face the world as it is, not as we would have it be. I am under no illusions about the challenge.”

Reeves is also expected emphasise the need to work in partnership with the private sector to drive investment.