If the Tories were hoping that the New Year might see a change in their dire polling situation then they will have been disappointed. We’ve now seen enough polls carried out since the start of the year to come to that conclusion.

What is clear is that the autumn change of leadership to first Truss and then Sunak has had no impact on how voters see the current party of government.

This all comes as we get closer to when the next general election has to be held and I am now coming to the view that Sunak might not survive the year as prime minister. He needs something to show that he has an electoral appeal and in three months that has not emerged.

We are now less than four months away from this year’s local elections when the chances of huge losses must be high. Could that be the trigger for a move against Sunak?

Labour meanwhile is looking more confident by the day and while Starmer might appear boring to some he is not an electoral liability.

Mike Smithson