According to recent polling data, teachers are increasingly distancing themselves from the Labour Party, with support among union members having plummeted by more than two-thirds since Labour took office.
The National Education Union (NEU) conducted a survey revealing a significant decline in the number of members who plan to vote for Labour in future elections. This figure is 70% lower compared to those who supported Labour during the 2024 General Election.
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the NEU, highlighted this shift during his address at the union’s annual conference in Brighton. He noted that teachers’ confidence in Labour is ‘dwindling’.
Kebede criticized Labour for not fulfilling its pledges, particularly regarding increased pay for teachers and additional funding for schools.
The union’s support now appears to be gravitating towards the Green Party, which has promised substantial pay raises for teachers and the abolition of Ofsted.
Zack Polanski, the sole party leader granted an invitation to the union’s conference, received a standing ovation following his speech earlier in the week.
Mr Kebede said: ‘So many who placed their hope in Labour now feel that hope slipping away.
‘It is a warning. And history teaches us that warnings ignored become consequences.
Teachers are deserting Labour as support among union members has fallen by more than two thirds since they came to power, polling suggests (pictured: NEU General Secretary Daniel Kebede)
‘People are not volatile – they are responding to what they see, and to what they do not.
‘I do not want this Government to fail. I want this government to listen.’
Mr Kebede said the Government’s proposed teacher pay rise of 6.5 per cent over three years is not fully-funded, meaning it will have to be taken from elsewhere in school budgets.
The union is currently conducting an indicative ballot to see if there would be appetite among members for a formal strike ballot over pay.
He said schools are ‘running on empty,’ and ‘not by accident, but by political choice’.
He added Mr Polanski offers ‘a vision of education built on possibility rather than scarcity’.
The voting survey of 3,751 NEU members was carried out in December by Deltapoll.
It found that while 60 per cent of respondents said they voted Labour in 2024, only 18 per cent would do so if a general election were held tomorrow.
A survey by the National Education Union (NEU) found the proportion saying they would vote Labour in future is 70 per cent lower than that of those who said they did so in the 2024 General Election (pictured: Mr Kebede with Zack Polanski earlier this week)
In contrast, support for the Greens rose from 10 per cent to 23 per cent in the same time— making Mr Polanski’s party the most popular option among this cohort.
The classroom ‘has become the front line of every unresolved crisis in our society’, Mr Kebede said.
‘Hunger walks in with the children. Anxiety takes a seat at the back of the room. Unmet special educational needs raise their hands every morning and are told to wait and wait again.’
Mr Kebede hit out at the Government’s recent White Paper, which recommended getting mainstream schools to take on more responsibility for looking after children with special educational needs.
On Wednesday, teachers at the conference voted to back a motion that called the funding for the programme insufficient.
The Government has promised £1.6 billion for mainstream schools to deal with the change.
In addition, £1.8 billion over three years will go towards creating a bank of specialists in every area, and £200 million will go towards special needs teacher training.
Mr Kebede said: ‘If the Government is serious about children achieving and thriving, it must be serious about sustained, long term investment in education.’
A Labour party spokesman said: ‘This Labour Government is committed to delivering for our schools, supporting families and ensuring the background of a child doesn’t determine how they get on in life.
‘And we are getting on with the job – whether that is by introducing free breakfast clubs, expanding free school meals, or extending Government-funded childcare for parents.
‘Nearly half a million kids are also being lifted out of poverty, as we’ve scrapped the cruel two-child limit.’
