22 October 2010
A narrow majority of people support the spending cuts announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review, according to a poll released today.
Some 41% of people think the coalition made the right decisions on where to make cuts, while 38% do not. One in five (21%) people say they do not know.
The survey of 817 adults was conducted by accountant firm KPMG and pollsters Ipsos Mori after Chancellor George Osborne’s statement on October 20.
But the findings show that public confidence in the government's policies to improve the state of the economy and public services in the long term has dropped significantly since before the CSR.
Two thirds (68%) of people would also prefer that public spending was cut more slowly to help reduce the impact on public services. Only 27% backed the coalition’s fast reduction.
Ben Page, chief executive of Ipsos Mori, said: ‘Most people now agree that public spending has to be cut but are completely divided over whether the government has overall, made the right cuts. However, more believe it will help the economy than harm it.’
Alan Downey, KPMG's head of public sector, said the findings were ‘not a bad result for the government, given that we are facing expenditure reductions on a scale that none of us has seen before’. But he added: ‘Nevertheless it is clear that the coalition government faces an uphill struggle to persuade people that cuts need to be made quickly.’
The poll also revealed public support for specific measures announced in the CSR. Some 73% of people backed ending Child Benefit for higher earners, 61% supported reducing welfare spending and 60% backed increasing the state pension age.
However, 62% of the public opposed reducing spending on policing. Opinion was split on cutting the public sector workforce, with 45% of people in support and 47% against.
