Poll finds living costs of greatest concern to most voters

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Central Government and also in Communities

A Policy Exchange study has found that social differences in England are marked as much between the urban and the rural as they are between north and south.

According to the poll, a greater percentage of the north describe themselves as working-class (51%), as opposed to those in the south (38%).

The research found that people are increasingly driven to vote by how they believe the government is performing, and less by social class.

81% of respondents believed that politicians did not understand the real world.

The poll also found that a reduction in the cost of living was the priority for most people:

1. Reducing energy bills (50%)
2. Reducing fuel duty (43%)
3. Reducing income tax (26%)
4. Reducing VAT (26%)

Neither Labour nor the Conservatives did well in the poll, with 64% believing that the Conservatives were the party of the rich, whilst 54% felt that Labour could not be trusted with running the economy.

Neil O’Brien, Director of Policy Exchange, “It’s certainly true that the Conservatives do better in the south and Labour in the north but within these regions there are huge differences. If you took the TransPennine Express from Liverpool to Newcastle you would find that 13 of the stops are in Conservative-held seats and 19 in Labour. It is in the northern cities specifically that the Conservatives do badly rather than the north as a whole.

“The results of our research show that political parties need to focus on addressing cost of living issues such as reducing energy bills and the price of petrol rather than broader issues affecting the state of the nation. The evidence also suggests that neither Labour or the Conservatives have succeeded in appealing to ordinary working people.”