After PM announced the end of austerity, poll shows even Conservative voters think it’s time to give public sector workers a pay rise
The British public overwhelmingly support measures to end austerity in next week’s Budget, exclusive polling by Survation for GMB reveals.
The results also show a large majority of people (68%) backed a real terms pay rise for millions of public sector workers.
Those polled also wanted the Chancellor to announce the following measures:
- Increased public investment in in infrastructure such as roads, railways and school buildings (77%)
- Real terms increases in spending on public services (76%)
- Increased funding from central government for local councils (72%)
- Plans to reopen public services that have been closed (67%)
The polling shows what the public believes ‘ending austerity’ means in practice, with most saying increasing spending on public services (65%), increasing public sector wages (61%), reopening services which have closed (58%), increasing infrastructure investment (68%) and more money for councils (67%).
After Theresa May announced an end to austerity the polling shows 80% of those who voted Conservative in 2017 said they wanted to see real terms increases in spending on public services announced in the Budget next week, with 61% wanting plans to reopen services which have previously closed.
Survation, who carried out the poll on behalf of GMB, were the only major polling company to accurately predict the outcome of last year’s general election.
Tim Roache, GMB General Secretary, said:“This polling shows people have simply had enough of austerity and now expect the Prime Minister to deliver on her promise to put an end to it.
“The cuts, the pinching and the squeezing have gone on for far too long – it’s time to put a stop to the government’s disastrous austerity experiment that has already caused so much harm.
“The Chancellor must use his Budget to press ahead with proper investment in our crumbling infrastructure, funding for our public services instead of leaving them to rot, and giving our hard working public sector workers the pay rise they deserve after nearly a decade of real terms wage cuts.
“Overwhelming numbers of voters who backed the Conservatives at the last election expect the Prime Minister to keep her promise to put an end to austerity.”