Labour voters would choose cuts to climate change initiatives and welfare over cuts to policing or pensions, a… The post Labour voters would pick welfare and climate cuts over police or pension cuts appeared first on LabourList.
Labour voters would choose cuts to climate change initiatives and welfare over cuts to policing or pensions, a new poll reveals ahead of the Treasury’s looming spending review.
The findings will come as a relief to many in government in the same week that ministers have made the case for 5% spending cuts in government departments, unveiled a crackdown on welfare fraud and dropped hints they will back airport expansion to support growth. The seeming direction of travel in all three areas has sparked unease among campaigners, and is likely to prove highly controversial with parts of the party.
The survey by Deltapoll, commissioned by the Institute for Government, found that 39% of Labour voters at the last election would want to see less money spent on the civil service – if the government had to reduce spending. The second most popular – or least unpopular – of the nine options Labour supporters were pressed to choose from was climate change initiatives (30%).
Local government was next in line (27%) despite heavy cuts it has already faced since 2010, followed by ‘welfare and benefits’ (21%). Defence and security ranked next highest, in the middle of the rankings, on 19%.
The four areas Labour supporters least wanted cut were the NHS (12%), schools (10%), pensions (10%) and crime and policing (8%).
The electorate as a whole provided a similar ranking of their priorities to Labour voters.
Asked their preferences more broadly however, more Labour voters backed increasing taxes and spending more (39%) or keeping tax-and-spend levels the same (37%) to cutting taxes and spending less (12%).
It comes ahead of the government’s Spending Review in the spring, with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones warning on Tuesday that government departments will not receive any cash for new projects unless they meet the Treasury’s target of a five percent reduction in spending.
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Joe Twyman, director of Deltapoll, told the Institute for Government conference while presenting the findings on Tuesday: “This is a reflection of that dissatisfaction with the political process generally.
“When you break it [support for cuts to the civil service] down, it is not the case it is driven overwhelmingly by those on the right. The big difference is with Baby Boomers compared to Gen Z. Nearly two-thirds of Baby Boomers select the civil service in their top three, compared to under a quarter for Gen Z.
“Among party supporters, it’s not the case this is a particular bugbear for one group or another.”
The findings come as the government unveils plans to chase repayments from convicted benefits cheats, with powers to force banks to hand over account information to target investigations and driving bans for those who fail to pay back the taxpayer.
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When asked about potential cuts to the civil service in the upcoming Spending Review, Darren Jones said: “I don’t think there is an either or, because just taking that action doesn’t solve all the problems we’re trying to fix.
“The idea of the zero-based review and the Office for Value for Money is we are looking at everything for the first time in 17 years and making sure where there is duplication or waste that we’re being ruthless in taking that out of the system.”
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The post Labour voters would pick welfare and climate cuts over police or pension cuts appeared first on LabourList.
