Techne UK chief Michela Morizzo explains this week’s polls

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Rishi Sunak’s bid to relaunch his government with a reshuffle of his top team has failed to impress voters, a new poll has revealed. The Techne UK survey of 1,624 voters this week found 45 percent had not changed their view about the government while 28 percent had a more negative opinion as a result of the changes. Just 21 percent felt more positively about Mr Sunak’s administration.

The results are bad news for Mr Sunak after a difficult week as he tries to overturn Labour’s 21 point lead which Sir Keir Starmer’s party has held for four weeks straight in the Techne UK tracker poll for Express.co.uk.

A senior regional campaigner for the Conservatives described the polling as “a catastropher.”

He told Express.co.uk: “We are heading for a total wipeout.”

The reshuffle was instigated by Mr Sunak needing to find a replacement for Nadhim Zahawi as party chairman after he was sacked over his tax affairs.

Mr Sunak used the vacancy to bring in Greg Hands a west London MP combined with a high profile pick for deputy chairman of Red Wall MP for Ashfield Lee Anderson.

The choice of Mr Anderson, a former trade uninist minster and Labour activist, was praised by many people in the party and seen as an attempt by the Prime Minister to reach the right of the party and bring in his critics.

But there was also controversy over Mr Anderson’s apparent support for the death penalty based on an interview prior to his appointent where he quipped hanging had a “100 percent success rate in stopping reoffending.”

The positive for Mr Sunak was that Conservative voters from 2019 were more likely to be impressed by his reshuffle with 48 percent positive and just 15 percent negative.

Leave voters from 2016, another core group the Tories need to win back, were 32 percent positive and 20 percent negative.

Conversely, 2016 Remainers were unhappy with the changes – with just 16 percent positive and 34 percent negative.

The only age group with a net positive view of the changes were pensioners aged 65 and over – with 24 percent positive and 20 percent negative.

Voters in the wealthiest categories were also more impressed as 30 percent were positive and 24 percent negative.

The reshuffle for Mr Sunak, just over 100 days after he took office, has been seen as a bid to ensure he survives the year against a potential coup by Tory MPs and then go on to win the general election.

The Prime Minister has faced internal criticism from within the Conservative Party membership with the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), fronted by Boris Johnson ally Lord Cruddas and former Home Secretary Priti Patel, demanding the the new chairman was elected by the membership.

Some had mooted Ms Patel and Mr Johnson as possible chairs for the party.

The grassroots campaign was set up in response to Ms Truss, who beat Mr Sunak in a vote by the membership, being removed by Tory MPs after just 49 days and then replaced by Mr Sunak with no vote by members.

Meanwhile, Mr Sunak has been facing criticism on policy from his two predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss on the economy and a failure to send fighter jets to Ukraine.

Mr Johnson managed to tarnish the trip by ukraine’s Presidennt Zelensky this week by entering the row over sending arms to fight Russia.

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