SHOCK CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN: STARMER’S LAST DAYS IN NO10?

Voters believe Keir Starmer is spending his last Christmas in No10 as anger mounts within Labour ranks.

YouGov research found half of the public expect the PM to be gone within a year, including 19 per cent who are ‘definite’ about his demise.

That compared to just 35 per cent who thought he has a chance of surviving until the next festive season.

The growing sense of doom surrounding the premier is a stark contrast to his triumphant arrival in Downing Street just 17 months ago, on the back of a landslide election victory.

The government’s misery deepened today as announced another humiliating U-turn, watering down the inheritance tax raid on family farms just days after Sir Keir insisted it was ‘sensible’.

Despairing Labour insiders have complained that the leadership seems to have learned nothing from the debacle over the winter fuel allowance and abortive effort at benefits reforms.

They now braced for a climbdown on business rates increases, which have seen Sir Keir and other Labour MPs banned from pubs across the country.

Labour Party chair Anna Turley told Sky News at the weekend that Sir Keir would ‘absolutely’ still be PM next Christmas.

But Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham are increasingly seen as on manoeuvres with the PM looking down the barrel of apocalyptic local elections in May.

Voters also appear pessimistic about the prospects in 2026, with just 15 per cent hopeful their own financial situation will improve over the next year, while 40 per cent expect things to get worse.

Some 39 per cent anticipate little change.

Despite the grim backdrop, the latest YouGov poll did show Reform’s advantage on headline voting intention narrowing from 10 points to five.

Sir Keir’s allies will be watching closely to see if that trend continues to show up in the New Year.

Voters believe Keir Starmer is spending his last Christmas in No10 as anger mounts within Labour ranks

Under the original plan unveiled by Rachel Reeves in the 2024 Budget farmers faced paying IHT at a 20 per cent rate on agricultural property and land worth more than £1million from April.

It triggered a huge wave of protests in London and a backlash from Labour MPs in rural seats.

But in the PM’s latest U-turn Defra today lifted that threshold to £2.5million, admitting that it had acted after it ‘listened to concerns of the farming community’.

A Defra spokesman said the change would halve the number of farms affected by the change to Agricultural Property Relief.

NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: ‘I am thankful common sense has prevailed and government has listened.

‘From the start the government said it was trying to protect the family farm and the change announced today brings this much closer to reality for many.’

But shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said the change to the ‘vindictive’ scheme would be ‘too late for some’, adding: ‘Businesses and lives have been lost.