Polls show a majority would pay more tax to improve services and regional inequality, but that’s far too ambitious for our PM
A Tory chancellor eager for austerity will struggle to get away with echoing George Osborne’s mendacious old trope that the country has “maxed out its credit card”. Whatever the Treasury’s debts, there is no public appetite for retrenchment, according to the latest Ipsos Mori poll. Two-thirds want to pay higher taxes to go towards social care and easing NHS waiting lists. What’s more, there is virtually no difference between Labour and Tory voters on this. A mere 9% want spending cuts to pay off the deficit.
Voters’ apparent willingness to pay more tax to spend on vital things is encouraging. The NHS always touches a political nerve – as anyone might fall under a bus. But it’s heartening to find that 60% of respondents are prepared to pay higher taxes to reach the net zero target for carbon emissions – and that includes 52% of Tory voters. Not long ago, using the R-word – redistribution – was, pollsters warned, a vote-killer, yet now 51% are ready to pay more tax for “levelling up” regional inequalities. This goodwill fluctuates slightly, but, says Ipsos Mori’s Gideon Skinner, the rejection of austerity that began in 2015 has grown and “the Covid response has encouraged big state action”. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is battling for cuts, so why is he so popular? “Voters still associate him with furloughing largesse,” says Skinner, helped by his “eat out to help out” scheme. But that can’t survive his autumn spending review permafrost plans for three years ahead.
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