Could Jeremy Corbyn's stance on Syria be helping Labour in London?

A new opinion poll from Ipsos MORI provides possible signs that Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition to Britain extending air strikes into Syria has helped the Labour cause in London. I stress the word “possible” because it would be rash to read too much into the responses of the 115 Londoners surveyed as part of a national poll of over 1000 people. Even so, the results are interesting.

Ipsos MORI themselves have drawn attention to Londoners being more likely than their fellow Britons to feel that bombing Islamic State targets will make the country less safe. The difference is 54% compared with the next highest rating of 49% for Scotland and an average of 44% for Britain overall. 

Londoners were also happier - much happier - than everyone else with Corbyn’s handling of the crisis in Syria, with 44% declaring themselves satisfied compared with 40% dissatisfied. Everywhere else, Corbyn’s ratings by this measure were even more heavily in the negative than David Cameron’s. In London, the prime minister’s Syria performance satisfied only 32% and dissatisfied exactly twice that proportion.

There is also some consolation for Corbyn in Londoners’ responses to a general question about his leadership of Labour. The national poll response shows little long-term change in satisfaction ratings for Cameron as prime minister, with 41% saying they are satisfied and 55% saying the opposite. That looks pretty poor except when put next to Corbyn’s scores: only one in three are satisfied with him as Labour leader while 50% are dissatisfied.