Across developed democracies, many feel an increasingly powerful sense of injustice that the economy and society no longer work for people like them, and that government is not on their side. This sentiment is fuelling support for right-wing national populists who promise easy solutions, yet, once in power, increase societal division and chaos.
PPI’s project on centre-left renewal began in 2023 to exchange ideas, strategies, and tactics for making centre-left parties more competitive and improve their governing performance. Successful strategies have all had a sharp focus on a change agenda for working-class voters — what we termed the “working middle” in our original research published in July 2025 as people who felt they were working harder and harder yet felt that ‘business as usual’ politics and economics wasn’t working for them, personified by strong candidates who displayed their conviction and ability to deliver for them.
Our research with working-class voters in the US, UK, Australia, Germany and France shows that they are crying out for change and for strong politicians who are willing to do what it takes to make that change happen. This report updates our original research with a deep dive into the UK, with polling and focus groups conducted in July 2026, just before Andy Burnham became Prime Minister to understand the hopes and fears of the voters who have been moving away from Labour since it was elected just two years ago.
We found that the frustration voters felt deeply before electing Labour had intensified, after PPI’s project on centre-left renewal began in 2023 to exchange ideas, strategies, and tactics for making centre-left parties more competitive and improve their governing performance. Successful strategies have all had a sharp focus on a change agenda for working-class voters — what we termed the “working middle” in our original research published in July 2025 as people who felt they were working harder and harder yet felt that ‘business as usual’ politics and economics wasn’t working for them, personified by strong candidates who displayed their conviction and ability to deliver for them. what they deemed a disappointing tenure by Keir Starmer’s new government. Many working-class voters who had given Labour their support in 2024 were planning to vote for other parties, from Reform UK, to the Greens. In this UK update, we outline what this means for the centre-left in the UK, and the lessons others around the world can draw as they seek to represent the change these voters are looking for.
