THE popularity of Boris Johnson has continued to plummet and now makes him a more unpopular prime minister than Theresa May ever was, according to a new poll.
As revelations of parties in Downing Street during times of heightened Covid restrictions continue to come out, the Tory PM has seen his favorability amongst UK voters fall.
Despite a brief rise over the festive period when stories briefly disappeared, the net favourability of Johnson has now fallen to -52, according to a YouGov poll. It is a new low after his previous low of -42 was recorded just over a month ago.
YouGov polled 1666 British voters between January 11 and 12 on the favourability of leading political figures as Johnson faces continued calls to resign over allegedly breaking rules that his government set.
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Nearly three-quarters (72%) of those surveyed have an unfavourable opinion of Johnson while just a fifth (20%) think of him favourably.
Johnson's net-favourability was lowest in Scotland of all four UK nations where he recorded a result of -77.
The results put Johnson's popularity below his predecessor May at her lowest point as prime minister.
May's net favourability hit -49 points in a YouGov poll on May 15 2019, nine days before she announced she would step down as leader of the Conservative Party.
At that time, 70% of the public had an unfavourable opinion of May.
The latest result also puts Johnson very close to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's lowest level of popularity (-55) recorded in June 2019 by YouGov.
In the latest poll, Priti Patel recorded a score of -55 with 69% of voters recording an unfavourable opinion of the Home Secretary.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer recorded a much better rating than Johnson with a net favourability of -19.
A separate poll from YouGov found that 35% of those polled think Starmer would make the best PM and just 22% think Johnson would do a better job.
The most popular politician in the survey was Rishi Sunak - tipped as a potential Tory leadership candidate - who recorded a net favourability of -4 with 40% of voters recording a favourable opinion and 44% having an unfavourable view of the Chancellor.
The results come as Labour now holds an 11-point lead over the Tories in the latest Westminster voting intentions from YouGov.
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Labour recorded 40% of the vote share in the poll while the Tories saw just 29% of voter support.
The survey showed that the SNP is by far the most popular party in Scotland, recording 39% of voters in Scotland.
The Tories came in second for Scottish voters (15%) while Labour was third on 8 and the Liberal Democrats came in a close fourth with 7%.
The SNP's constitution spokesperson in Westminster Tommy Sheppard MP said: “The people of Scotland have time and again rejected Boris Johnson and the Tories – and this latest poll reaffirms that position.
“With each passing day we hear of another major scandal that has taken place within Downing Street - and clearly the public have had enough.
“While we are delighted to see another strong poll for the SNP, we will take nothing for granted and continue to encourage people across Scotland that only independence will rid us of people like Boris Johnson once and for all.
“However, for as long as Scotland is under Tory and Westminster rule, we will always be vulnerable.
“Only with the full powers of independence can Scotland break free from the shackles of a sleaze-ridden, outdated Westminster system and finally begin to build a progressive, more fairer nation.”
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