PRICES CRISIS TO DECIDE ELECTON
Cost-of-living battle will dictate how 60% will choose who rules at No10
SIX out of 10 voters say tackling soaring price rises will determine how they vote at the next election.
An exclusive poll found many want to see Universal Credit uprated and the new National Insurance hike scrapped to combat the cost-of-living crisis.
Nine in 10 say they are significantly or fairly concerned about paying their heating bills and affording food, while seven out of 10 worry about the impact on rents and mortgages.
It means Chancellor Rishi Sunak has just 17 months to put money back in people’s pockets if Britain is to go to the polls in October 2023.
Former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith backed our poll findings which showed 57% want Universal Credit increased in line with prices. His Centre for Social
Justice think-tank estimates that would put an extra £739 into the kitties of four million poorer households.
Mr Duncan Smith said: “The Chancellor should bring UC into line with inflation. With UC only uprated by 3.1% in April, those who rely on welfare for their income will experience a 7% cut.”
According to pollsters Redfield and Wilton Strategies, only 21% put fixing the NHS as a higher priority to the cost of living, and only two in 100 reckon reducing crime is more important.
The survey reveals 54% want to see the 1.25% NI increase axed. That would save £214 for someone on £30,000 a year.
Nearly six in 10 would back a windfall tax on oil company profits, with the proceeds helping to cut domestic energy costs. The cost of living is also hitting holiday plans, with 45% saying they won’t travel this year. Fewer than one in four will go abroad. And 22% are opting for a staycation in Britain.
On party leaders, should Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer be toppled for breaching lockdown rules, voters show little interest in their successor.
In the Tory contest Mr Sunak is on 18%, ahead of Liz Truss on 9% and Jeremy Hunt on 8%.
More than half of voters had no opinion on a Labour leadership race. Those who did have an interest favoured ex-party leader Ed Miliband (11%) ahead of Yvette Cooper (10%).
nigel.nelson@ sundaymirror.co.uk