Corbyn And McDonnell 'Less Trusted On Economy'

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell are less trusted with the UK economy than their predecessors, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, Sky Data polling reveals.

A lack of trust in Mr Miliband and Mr Balls to run the economy was cited as a primary reason for Labour’s loss at the general election in May.

Polls consistently showed them lagging David Cameron and George Osborne on the issue.

But in a new Sky poll, 30% said they would prefer the Miliband/Balls combo as PM and chancellor, compared to 23% for Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell.

Among just Labour voters the results were closer, but Mr Miliband and Mr Balls were still narrowly preferred to Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell - 39% to 37%.

Meanwhile, Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne are strongly preferred to their Labour counterparts to run the UK economy.

Half of Britons would back the Cameron/Osborne combo, compared with just 22% for Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell.

And as Mr Corbyn speaks at the Scottish Labour Conference , more Scots would also back Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne - 29% to 22%.

The Conservatives, as a party, are also backed over Labour as the best party for the UK economy - 50% to 24%.

Sky Data political analyst Harry Carr said: "While some of Jeremy Corbyn's specific economic policies are popular, he is not trusted with the economy at a more general level.

"Public mistrust in Ed Miliband’s economic credibility dogged him throughout the 2015 general election campaign.

"Electoral precedent suggests it is unlikely Mr Corbyn will win in 2020 unless he can win back that trust."

Looking further back, Mr Corbyn also comes off worse in comparison with Tony Blair, who was highly critical of Mr Corbyn during the Labour leadership election campaign.

The pairing of Mr Blair and Gordon Brown were preferred on the economy by 48% of Britons, compared to 16% for Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell.

Sky Data interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,001 Sky customers online from 16-19 October 2015.

Data was weighted to match the profile of the population.

For full Sky Data tables, please click here.