Protecting NHS, reducing immigration and Brexit trade deals emerge as voter priorities in survey and PM wins on all three

Theresa May is more trusted than Jeremy Corbyn to tackle the most urgent problems in post-Brexit Britain, including safeguarding the NHS, according to a new poll seen exclusively by the Guardian.

Asked what politicians’ priorities should be, the top three choices in the Britain Thinks poll were safeguarding the health service, significantly reducing immigration and striking new trade deals as Britain leaves the European Union.



Theresa May was more trusted on all three issues, outpacing Corbyn on protecting the NHS by 38% to 30%. On reducing immigration, 46% of voters trusted May; just 12% said Corbyn. Britain Thinks polled 2,053 people, weighted to represent the country, as well as conducting four focus groups in Harlow and Leamington Spa.

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Deborah Mattinson, the director of Britain Thinks, said: “When we look at the policies that are people’s highest priorities – the economy post-Brexit, immigration – Theresa May is more trusted than Jeremy Corbyn to deliver. She is even more trusted in Labour’s traditional heartland area: the NHS.

“Jeremy Corbyn has failed to engage with ordinary voters. Half of the people in our focus groups did not recognise him when shown a photograph – the lowest level of recognition I have ever seen for the leader of a mainstream political party.”

Corbyn’s low standing on immigration may be understandable, as he has made clear his support for continued freedom of movement within the EU, although he would like the government to take action to mitigate the impact on low-paid workers.

But it will chime with the fears of centrist Labour backbenchers, including Rachel Reeves and Stephen Kinnock, who have argued that Labour should be ready to push for curbs on immigration in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Theresa May was trusted more on the NHS, but less with supporting struggling families. Photograph: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Corbyn is more trusted by voters to implement a series of other policies, including opposing grammar schools, abolishing university tuition fees and providing “better support for struggling working families” (by 41% to May’s 28%), according to the poll.

That may suggest voters do not believe the rhetoric of the prime minister’s first speech in Downing Street, when she promised to tackle social injustice and govern on behalf of the “just managing”, instead of the “privileged few”.

Corbyn’s critics have repeatedly highlighted Labour’s low polling during this summer’s bruising leadership campaign – though he insists that large attendances at rallies up and down the country show he has a groundswell of support that will eventually be felt at the ballot box.

A separate analysis of recent polling by elections expert John Curtice, published in the journal of the IPPR thinktank on Friday, suggests Corbyn is a polarising political figure. “Mr Corbyn is more accurately described as a divisive opposition leader than as an unpopular one,” Curtice says. “More voters have had an opinion of him, either for good or ill, during his first year as opposition leader than have had a view about any of his predecessors during their initial 12 months in the post, Tony Blair included.”

He adds: “There is evidently a section of the British public, to be found particularly among younger voters, for whom the Labour leader does have an appeal; it just does not look like a section that is big enough, on its own at least, to enable Labour to win a general election.”

The Britain Thinks poll was backed up by focus group interviews in Harlow, Essex, and Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, which revealed a deeply divided Britain. “Our research tells the story of a fractured nation, with people dividing themselves into two groups – the haves and the have nots,” Mattinson said. “While the first group feel at ease with themselves and their lives, the second, larger group faces a daily struggle, and feels a deep sense of injustice.”

She added that while immigration did not emerge as voters’ primary concern, a number of other issues – including pressures on public services and the NHS – were viewed through the prism of immigration.

The polling found that delivering a well-funded and efficient NHS was the most popular choice when people were asked for their top priorities for Britain, selected by just under a third of people. Next came a significant reduction in immigration, with notably less support for negotiating strong post-Brexit trade deals, supporting struggling families or building new homes.