Stopping small boats is a low priority for the general public, new polling has found.
The prime minister set out five priorities at the start of the year, including halving inflation, growing the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists, reducing the national debt and stopping small boat crossings.
But almost halfway through the year, a poll by Ipsos UK found more than 50 per cent of people think the Government is doing a bad job on almost all those priorities.
In worse news for the Government, the poll found that the public tended to think Sunak was doing a worse job on the areas that were most important to them.
The public’s top priority, according to the poll, was easing the cost of living, with 59 per cent listing it as important, followed by ensuring people can get NHS treatment more quickly on 54 per cent and reducing NHS waiting lists on 51 per cent.
But 60 per cent said the Government was doing a bad job on easing the cost of living, with only 18 per cent saying it was doing a good job, and 62 per cent thought it was not delivering on reducing NHS waiting times.
On growing the economy, which 39 per cent listed as one of their priorities, 50 per cent said the Government was doing a bad job.
Stopping small boats and ensuring illegal immigrants were swiftly deported was a lower priority for the general public, with 29 per cent mentioning it, but it was a much higher priority for people who voted Conservative in 2019 than those who voted Labour.
Almost half of Tory voters listed ensuring swift removal of illegal immigrants as an important priority, the same number as those who mentioned reducing NHS waiting lists and more than those who listed growing the economy, while only 14 per cent of Labour voters said the same thing.
Only 15 per cent of people said they thought reducing the national debt was important.
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