Britain is unconvinced that any party can solve the living standards challenge

More than half of people say they are more likely to vote for a political party which could improve their living standards but there is scepticism that any of the main parties know how to do this, shows new polling from the Resolution Foundation.

The poll, published by the independent think tank ahead of the party conference season and conducted by YouGov, is part of a long-term project looking at the importance of living standards in the 2015 General Election.

The new findings show 51 per cent say that if a political party convinced them it could improve the living standards of people like them they would be more likely to vote that way (15 per cent very likely and 36 per cent quite likely). Yet none of the parties are seen as having strong ideas to raise living standards. Respondents were offered a menu of eight measures which could improve living standards and, for each party in turn, asked to choose one or two on which it has good ideas. For each party, around 4 in 10 people felt they had no good ideas at all – 43 per cent said this was true of the Conservatives, 39 per cent for Labour and 47 per cent for the Liberal Democrats.

Almost half of people (46 per cent) chose a reduction in household bills as the single measure that would most help them financially. Yet only a handful of people think any of the main parties have good ideas to achieve this – just 4 per cent say the Conservatives do, 5 per cent Labour and 3 per cent the Liberal Democrats.

Next most popular was a reduction in taxes for low and middle income households – named by almost four in 10 (36 per cent) as the thing that would help them most. Here only 13 per cent feel the Conservatives have good ideas, 7 per cent the Liberal Democrats and 6 per cent Labour.

After this came measures that would ensure that wages rise in line with economic growth, chosen by nearly one in three (30 per cent). Here just 11 per cent feel Labour has good ideas, 6 per cent the Conservatives and 4 per cent the Liberal Democrats.

The poll’s other findings include:

· Labour are seen as strongest on raising the wages of low-paid workers without damaging the economy – 14 per cent of the public think they have good ideas in this area (rising to 28% among Labour voters).

· No party scores well on ensuring affordable and high-quality childcare, but it is noticeable that among their own supporters the Liberal Democrats score comparatively well on this with one in five Liberal Democrat supporters identifying this as an area where the party has good ideas (19 per cent) compared to an equivalent figure of just 5% among Labour voters. Liberal Democrats also score comparatively well among their own supporters in relation to reducing taxes for those on low and middle incomes (23 per cent think they have good ideas on this compared to just 7% among all voters).

· The Conservatives are seen as strongest on getting the right level of welfare benefits to those who need help. Almost one in four people (23 per cent) thought they had good ideas in this area, including almost half of Conservative supporters (49 per cent) and more than one in four Liberal Democrat supporters (28 per cent)

· Scepticism about the parties’ policies on living standards is highest among older voters. Of those aged 60 and over, at least half (49 per cent Conservative, 51 per cent Labour, 58 per cent Liberal Democrat) do not think the parties have good ideas in any of the areas. This compares to around one in four of voters aged 18-24 (23 per cent Labour and 30 per cent Conservatives and Liberal Democrats). The youngest voters are more likely to say they don’t know if a party has good ideas.

· People in the North are most likely to vote for a party that could improve their living standards – six in 10 (60 per cent) compared to around half in all other regions

While there is a general lack of faith in the parties’ abilities to come up with good ideas to improve living standards, there is an increase in optimism over whether Britons expect to be better off than they are now by the time of the next election in 2015. One in four (25 per cent) expect to be better off, one in four worse off (26 per cent) and four in 10 (40 per cent) about the same. This is a significantly more positive outlook than six months ago – when only one in five (19 per cent) expected to be better off, almost half (46 per cent) expected to be worse off and one in four (28 per cent) about the same.

Gavin Kelly, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said:

“None of the parties has yet convinced voters that it has the answers on living standards. Our polling reinforces what a towering election issue this will be but also the huge task facing each of the parties over the next 18 months if they want to persuade voters that they can make a meaningful difference to their disposable incomes. It’s striking that in a number of key policy areas the parties have yet to convince their own supporters they have any good ideas.”

“Despite this scepticism about the policy agenda of the main parties there has been a marked reduction over recent months in the number of voters who expect to be worse off in 2015 than they are today. Voters remain gloomy about their prospects, but less so than before. If that improving mood continues it could have major implications for the next election.”

ENDS

Notes

1. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,886 GB adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 27^th-28 ^th August. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults aged 18+

2. Previous polling by YouGov as an earlier part of the same project was conducted in February under the same terms and with a similar sample size.

3. In the latest round of polling, respondents were offered a menu of eight specific measures to improve living standards and, for each party, asked to pick one or two which they felt the party had particularly good ideas. The eight measures were: ensuring that the right level of welfare benefits go to those who genuinely need help; increasing the amount of affordable housing in Britain, delivering a system of affordable and high-quality childcare that supports working parents, easing the pressure on low and middle households by reducing taxes, making it easier for more people to move into employment, putting downward pressure on the cost of living so that household bills are as low as possible, helping raise the pay of low-wage workers without damaging the overall economy. There were also options for “none of them” and “don’t know”.