Healthcare and the capacity of the state to maintain public services top the UK public’s list of fears, Ipsos has revealed.
The global polling group told a session at the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association’s annual investment conference, 79 per cent of the British people it polled were worried that the government was doing too little to help people in the years ahead.
Immigration, the economy and inflation were still concerns but healthcare was cited by most respondents as the top issue facing the UK right now.
Ipsos found there was no appetite for austerity and that most people supported spending more or the same on public services: 36 per cent said they wanted to keep taxes the same, while 43 per cent were in favour of raising them.
A decade of restlessness
Ipsos also found that while climate change remained important to the UK public, appetite for acting on it had fallen, with 68 per cent believing it was urgent to act on climate change compared to 79 per cent in 2022.
Kelly Beaver, chief executive of Ipsos UK and Ireland, told delegates in Edinburgh of public scepticism around the number of companies badging their products or services as green.
She said 57 per cent of those polled said they felt too many businesses used the language of change but were not committed to it.
She added 53 per cent agreed with a statement that ‘the most successful brands will be those that make a genuine positive change'.
Beaver also dubbed the past 10 years as the ‘restless decade’.
She said: “We asked if people agreed with the statement ‘I wish I could slow down the pace of my life’.
“When we asked the question in 1999, 49 per cent agreed with Ipsos’ statement, in 2023 this increased to 62 per cent.”
Will Labour win the next election?
Beaver also unveiled the results of its most recent electoral polling.
She said the “jaws of electoral death started to open for the Conservative party” in the summer of 2022, and its latest findings were that 49 per cent would vote Labour and 27 per cent Conservative if an election was held tomorrow.
Beaver said these results were not a foregone conclusion and it was likely any lead would shorten between now and the UK general election.
She said: “Labour needs a 13 per cent swing to win, which is greater than Blair in 1997 and Atlee in 1945.”
Beaver said 49 per cent of the population have not yet decided who to vote for and compared with the satisfaction ratings of leaders who went on to be prime minister Keir Starmer scored poorly.
“Cameron was a plus 3 before the election - so about even- while Blair scored a plus 22. At the moment Starmer is scoring minus 21.”
Samantha Downes is a freelance journalist
