A new poll has found that close to 50% of Britons think Keir Starmer's removal of a portrait of Margaret Thatcher is acceptable.

As first reported by The Herald, the Prime Minister is said to have found the painting, which has hung inside Downing Street since 2009, "unsettling" and had it removed.

The move was branded "petty" by senior Conservatives, but a new poll conducted by YouGov finds close to half of people believe there's nothing wrong with Mr Starmer's decision.

A survey of 3929 adults found 45% believed removing the portrait from the Downing Street study was 'acceptable', with 36% believing it was unacceptable.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Scotland had the highest share of people believing it to be acceptable at 54%, followed by Wales at 50%.

The Midlands was the only region in which more people (40%) thought the decision was unacceptable than acceptable (39%).

While 48% of men felt it was acceptable to remove the painting, only 41% of women were of the same opinion.

In terms of age demographics, 51% of the over 65s felt it was wrong to have the portrait taken down, the only group in which 'unacceptable' outweighed 'acceptable'.

Unsurprisingly, the results were most starkly divided along party lines.

Only 18% of Conservative voters and 17% of Reform voters thought the decision was acceptable, compared to 71% of Labour voters and 61% of Lib Dems.