New polling by Ipsos in the UK shows Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement has done little to reduce Britons’ concerns about the rising cost of living. Around the same number of people expect to see a range of costs increase now compared with last week before the Spring Statement was announced, while many more people expect to see large rises in costs than in January.
More than 8 in 10 Britons now expect to see the cost of their utilities, such as gas and electricity, increase (85%). Having changed very little since last week, before Rishi Sunak’s announcement, this has increased by 10 percentage points since January, and the proportion expecting costs to increase a lot has risen from 49% to 72%. Over the past two months, the proportions of Britons expecting the cost of food and other household shopping to rise have gone up by 15 and 16 percentage points respectively, now at 85% and 80% (and in each case the proportion expecting large increases has doubled). There has been no change since last week.
Last week, before the Spring Statement was announced, three-quarters (76%) believed the price of their motoring fuel will go up over the next 6 months, there has been little change caused by the announcement with 74% saying the same now. Back in January, half felt the same way (52%). Again, there has been an ever bigger rise in the number expecting fuel costs to go up a lot, from 24% in January to 56% now.
Less than half expected to see a rise in the cost of going out socialising in January (46%) while now, 63% say the same. People are also more likely to see increase costs of subscriptions on the horizon, now 53% (up from 36%) and their mortgage/rent, up to 37% from 27% in January.
Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos, said: “Britons have been paying closer attention to the cost of living they are facing than the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, but with levels of concern this high (and not to mention his own ratings weakening) it won’t be a surprise if Rishi Sunak and the Government feel they need to do more to act on this issue. Particularly on utility bills, motoring fuel costs and food shopping, half or more of Brits expect to see big price rises coming, and this number has increased a lot even over the last couple of months. At the moment, when it comes to judging the economy the cost of living is key, and so far the public aren’t convinced the Conservatives are taking the right steps to reduce it.”
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