By HARRIET LINE, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 23:20 BST, 28 September 2025 | Updated: 23:57 BST, 28 September 2025
Labour is the least patriotic of all the main political parties, according to voters in a damning poll.Patriotism has emerged as a recurring theme of the political party conference season, with Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats trying to position themselves out in front.And it will be key to Labour's conference in Liverpool this week as Sir Keir Starmer tries to take the fight to Nigel Farage.But despite the Prime Minister's promise of 'patriotic renewal', 44 per cent of voters think his party is 'not patriotic' – a worse score than the Greens. Mr Farage's party tops the list, closely followed by the Conservatives.The exclusive survey for the Daily Mail also found that more than half of voters support people flying the Union and St George's flags.According to the Survation poll of more than 2,000 voters, 55 per cent strongly support or somewhat support people displaying the British or English flag in public. Just 14 per cent strongly or somewhat opposed them.An online movement called 'Operation Raise the Colours' has led to communities across the country hanging up flags.Downing Street has previously backed the flying of the national flags, saying the Prime Minister's 'patriotism will always be an important thing to him'. Despite Sir Keir Starmer's promise of a 'patriotic renewal', voters in the Daily Mail's exclusive survey think Labour is the least patriotic out of all the main political parties in BritainAnd over the weekend, Sir Keir spoke about his desire to 'own patriotism' in the face of the Reform threat.He told the Guardian that Labour's conference, which started yesterday, was 'a real opportunity for us to make our argument about patriotic national renewal, to own patriotism, to define it for what it is'.But the Mail's poll found the public do not see Labour as a patriotic party.Just 40 per cent said Labour is very or somewhat patriotic, compared to 44 per cent who said it was not very or not at all.Reform was seen as patriotic by 60 per cent, with just 24 per cent saying it was not. The Tories were close behind on 55 per cent, and even the Liberal Democrats and Green Party scored more highly than Labour – with 47 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively.The polling came as Sir Keir sought to define his idea of 'patriotic renewal' on the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme yesterday.'Patriotic renewal is fixing the problems in the country that we inherited but changing the country as we do so,' the Prime Minister said, adding: 'We've got to get the economy working. We've got to get wealth creation but it needs to be everywhere across the country, and that is what I want to change.'Last week, Sir Keir announced plans to back the 'true patriots' with a £5 billion fund to revive communities. The PM said the money, which would be used to revive high streets, parks and public spaces, would give 'power and pride back to the people who make Britain great'.But senior Conservative Sir James Cleverly accused Labour of having 'ridiculed the identity and institutions' of the country. The shadow housing secretary said Sir Keir was 'desperately trying to recover some credibility when it comes to national pride and patriotism'.'This is the party that mocked people who are flying the Cross of St George,' Sir James told Ms Kuenssberg.'He is a person who himself said all immigration law is racist. This is a day late and dollar short, and nobody is buying it.'This is a party that has ridiculed the identity and institutions and heritage of this country.'
