Polling suggests that Irish incumbent Simon Harris may not be the favourite in Friday's election (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to reset Brexit relations with the EU could be dealt a serious blow with one of his closest European allies at risk of being ousted in an upcoming election.
The Prime Minister has built up a close relationship with the Irish leader Simon Harris since his own General Election win in July.
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But a poll by The Irish Times indicates that Harris is no longer the favourite to extend his time in office following a serious gaffe.
Mr Harris walked away from a disability care worker Charlotte Fallon when she tried to ask him questions about low pay in her sector.
The Irish leader has since apologised and said: "The buck stops with me entirely here. I'm annoyed with how I didn’t give Charlotte the time last night. She deserved that time."
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The two leaders have struck up a friendship since Starmer's election victory (Image: Getty)
The encounter, which happened on a campaign stop, saw the care worker tell Mr Harris that pay was "a joke".
Mr Harris attempted to bring the conversation to a close by shaking her hand and walking away.
Ms Fallon then responded: "Keep shaking hands and pretend you're a good man, you're not a good man because you don't care about our people."
The 38-year-old politician is understood to have called Ms Fallon the following day to apologise and discuss the matter in more detail.
Despite the apology, the incident does seem to have harmed Ireland's youngest ever Taoiseach, with The Irish Times poll suggesting that his party Fine Gael sit on 19% - far below the 25% it polled when the election was called a fortnight ago.
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Elections in Germany could further hamper Starmer's plans to foster closer links with the EU (Image: Getty)
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This is behind fellow centre-right party Fianna Fail on 21% and Sinn Fein on 20%.
Starmer has repeatedly stated his desire to repair relations with the EU and a close working relationship with Ireland, and Harris in particular was seen as crucial to this.
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The pair are believed to have developed a close relationship since Labour’s election win, with the two swapping replica football shirts earlier this year and Harris describing Starmer’s election victory as a "game changer".
The polling compounds a tough couple of months for Starmer’s EU reset plans with another ally, Germany, plunging itself into political chaos as Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his Finance Minister, causing his three-way coalition to collapse and effectively called a general election.
It is widely expected that Scholz will lose next year’s election with no clear indications yet as to who will make up a new coalition, although the far-right party AfD could be influential in determining the new balance of power.