Majority of voters (52 per cent) want government to spend any
fiscal windfall on long-term investment in public services to end
the cycle of crisis.
This compares with 21 per cent who would want short-term spending
on measures to tackle immediate crises and emergencies in public
services.
And only 11 per cent of people who would want any extra funding
to be used for tax cuts for people and businesses.
New polling for the Institute for Global Change
(TBI) has found that the majority of voters would prefer
long-term investment over tax cuts or short-term relief measures.
Ahead of the Budget TBI asked voters how they would prefer the
government to use any fiscal headroom at the Budget next week.
52 per cent said the Government should invest in long-term
measures to improve the quality and efficiency of public services
and preventing future crises and emergencies from happening.
21 per cent said the Government should invest in short term
measures to tackle immediate crises and emergencies in the
delivery of public services
Only 11 per cent said the government should use the money to cut
some taxes for people and businesses now.
TBI Director of Economic Policy Tom Smith said:
“Not only are tax cuts bad economic policy right now, our new
polling suggests they may also be bad politics. A clear majority
of voters want the government to maintain spending on public
services, rather than cut taxes at the Budget.
“Our polling shows the public is not looking for spending cuts to
any major public service. But according to the OBR, the
government’s plans imply real term cuts of 10% to some services
in the four years after the election – including areas such as
transport, justice, the police, and housing. These cuts are
severe - around half as large as the austerity period of the
early 2010s – and are opposed by around four in five of the
British Public.
“The debate on tax cuts is a distraction. The only sustainable
path to delivering them is fundamental reform of the State and
the way public services are delivered. The Budget is an
opportunity to begin down that path – to make the investments
needed to reposition Britain for longer term success, harnessing
the rapid changes in technology to transform public services, do
more for less, and reimagine the State for the 21st century.
“To truly take ‘long-term decisions for a brighter future’, the
Chancellor should not be looking back in history for his policy
playbook – he should be looking to the future and the potential
for technology to transform public services and improve the UK’s
long-term prospects. This is the only route to really effective
public services that also improves the public finances and opens
the door for future tax cuts. Today, the majority of voters want
to see any fiscal headroom spent on long-term investment, with 64
per cent of those who expressed a view agreeing that investing in
new technology to improve public services should be a
priority.”
Further info:
TBI commissioned Deltapoll to undertake a survey of British
voters’ views on economic policy and the future of the state.
Deltapoll interviewed a representative sample of 1,977 adults in
Great Britain between 9 and 12 February 2024. The data have been
weighted to age, gender, education, 2019 general-election vote,
2016 referendum vote, political attention, social grade and
region within Great Britain.
