A Respect Crisis: How Labour failed to deliver change

Nearly two years into government, the public resoundingly believe that Keir Starmer's Labour Government has, above all, failed to deliver on the politics of respect the Prime Minister promised on the steps of Downing Street after his election victory.

In 2023 More in Common and UCL Policy Lab launched “The Respect Agenda” an analysis of why the public had turned so dramatically against the Conservatives, despite Boris Johnson having secured a landslide just four years earlier, and what the public most wanted from the next Government. Above all else, it found Britons had a clear and simple test for a new administration: they wanted politicians, public servants and decision makers to respect them.

The defining elements of the Respect Agenda are:

• Empathy
• Authenticity
• Honesty
• Valuing hard work

Only 19 per cent think the Government respects people like them, and three in four (73 per cent) say it respects them only a little or not at all. This goes deeper than a failure to tick off manifesto pledges, instead the Government has failed to convince the public it is on their side.

The public feels disrespected because they believe politicians are self-serving

The main reason that four in ten (42 per cent) of people feel disrespected is not a failure of delivery, but because they feel politicians look after their own interests rather than people like them.
This is cited more often by the public than concerns about broken promises or lack of progress on the big issues facing the country; it would be wrong to assume their problems can be solved by “deliverism” alone.

Scandals are defining the Government more than its policies

Britons are positive about a range of Labour policies which are seen to address the cost of living, including reducing energy bills, and freezing prescription charges and rail fares. However, these have had low cut-through with the public.

The incidents that have had the highest cut-through are those that have left people feeling most negative. More often than not, these are scandals or policy missteps. Majorities point to Keir Starmer accepting high-value gifts from Labour donors, the mistaken release of an asylum seeker from prison and the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US Ambassador as evidence that the Government does not respect them.

The Mandelson scandal has fuelled a sense for three in four (72 per cent) that there is one rule for those with wealth and status and another for everyone else.

Half the public now believes Labour is more chaotic than the previous Conservative Government, including a third of those who voted Labour in 2024.

The social contract is under strain

Central to the failure to deliver a Respect Agenda is that people do not believe their contribution to society, through hard work and paying taxes, is being properly valued.

Around half of Britons (51 per cent) now say that hard work does not pay, a sentiment that crosses the political spectrum. In focus groups, people talk about paying more than ever to the state while receiving diminishing returns, struggling with the basics and seeing milestones like homeownership move ever further out of reach.

This generates resentment and zero-sum thinking: that others (namely the wealthy, those on benefits or asylum seekers) are being better looked after by the state.

Neither mainstream party currently holds the respect mantle, and insurgent parties are filling the vacuum

Failing the respect test perpetuates a cycle we have seen repeatedly in recent years. The Conservative Government had a net respect score of -29 by 2023. Labour has now fallen to -34. Combined support for the two main parties has collapsed from 73 per cent three years ago to just 42 per cent in 2026, as voters have become increasingly convinced that they are unable to show ordinary people the respect they deserve.

It is insurgent parties, Reform UK and the Green Party, that are now seen as more likely to respect people who work hard, do the right thing and contribute to their community, albeit from very different perspectives and appealing to very different segments of the public.

A roadmap back to respect

The same four demands that defined the original Respect Agenda remain. People want politicians to demonstrate genuine empathy by engaging seriously with the issues that matter most to them; to show up as their authentic selves rather than hiding behind party lines; to be honest when things go wrong; and to make hard work pay.

On empathy, only 10 per cent of the public believe Keir Starmer has a clear plan to solve the problems that matter most to them. On authenticity, 57 per cent think the Prime Minister only tells people what they want to hear. On honesty, just 11 per cent think he sticks to his promises. And on hard work, 51 per cent believe it simply does not pay in Britain today.

The politicians who the public are more likely to think respect them, currently Andy Burnham, Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, all share a quality that the Prime Minister currently lacks. The public believe they genuinely understand, care about people and are willing to be their authentic selves.

The crisis of respect is not limited to politicians

People also can often feel disrespected in their day-to-day interactions with institutions and public services.

The NHS, military and schools continue to command high levels of trust and respect. Similarly there has been a significant positive change in the proportion who think the Bank of England respects them, the Bank having recovered from a low point in 2023 after interest rates were raised in the wake of Liz Truss’ mini-Budget.

However, the Labour Party has seen the biggest decline of any institution tested, with its net trust falling 29 points and net respect dropping 33 points since 2023. It is now in a position comparable to where the Conservatives were three years ago.

The lessons for institutions remain: the public want them to do the job they are meant to do and genuinely listen to people.

The opportunity to seize the Respect Agenda remains

The Respect Agenda is not impossible. The public does not expect politicians to be perfect; they just want them to be transparent and take responsibility.

When asked how a politician can show they are able to address the country’s problems, the top answer, selected by 42 per cent, is that they take responsibility when things go wrong. This will also make the public more likely to credit a party when they are seen to do the right thing and introduce policies they like.

Methodology 

Quantitative

The data for this research comes from three different polls, each of a nationally representative sample of GB adults, excluding Northern Ireland.

The polling on trust in, and respect for, the Conservative Party, Green Party, the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK was conducted from 24th to 27th April, with a sample size of 2,041.

The polling on the Mandelson Scandal and Olly Robbins was conducted on 23rd April 2026, with a sample size of 1,015, for The Sunday Times.

The rest of the polling was conducted from 25th February to 2nd March 2026, with a sample size of 2,009.

In all polls, respondents have been weighted according to age/sex interlocked, 2024 General Election vote, ethnicity, and education level.

All results tables are available on More in Common's website. More in Common is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

Qualitative

Four focus groups were conducted for this report. Those groups were recruited to be representative of four of More in Common's Seven Segments of Britain. One group was made up of Progressive Activists, another of the Incrementalist Left, another of Established Liberals who currently intend to vote Labour and fourth of Rooted Patriots.

The focus groups were conducted online between 9th and 10th February 2026.