It seems that Jeremy Hunt’s budget has had an unintended consequence, as a significantly higher number of voters believe it will result in overall tax increases rather than tax cuts.
The most recent poll by Opinium for the Observer, taken after the budget, indicates that the Tories have seen a decrease of two points in the last two weeks, experiencing the opposite of a “budget bounce.”
Hunt and prime minister Rishi Sunak had wanted what is likely to be the last budget before a general election to be seen as evidence that the economy was on the mend.
Sunak specifically aimed to provide a noteworthy tax reduction to showcase the government’s efforts in giving people more disposable income.
The main focus of the budget was a reduction of two percentage points in national insurance (NI) payments from employees, which would result in an annual savings of £450 for an employee with an average salary of £35,000.
Economists and thinktanks noted that certain measures in the budget, such as the ongoing freeze of tax rate thresholds, may have gone unnoticed but ultimately lead to an overall increase in taxes.
In the past two weeks, the Conservative party’s popularity has decreased by two points to 25%, while Labour’s has decreased by one point to 41%. As a result, Labour’s lead has increased by one point to 16 points.
When asked if they believed the budget changes had caused an increase or decrease in taxes, 31% of the participants said they thought taxes had increased even with the national insurance cut, while only 17% thought taxes had decreased. 29% believed there was no change in taxes.
Hunt’s approval rating has slightly decreased since the last poll conducted by Opinium two weeks ago. Only 22% of individuals approve of his job performance, compared to 21% from two weeks ago. However, 45% now disapprove of Hunt’s work, an increase of three points, resulting in a net rating of 22%.
According to James Crouch, the leader of public affairs and policy at Opinium, the ramifications of one budget were not predicted to completely reverse a significant polling disadvantage. However, Jeremy Hunt may be dissatisfied that the highly sought-after tax reduction he devoted considerable effort to securing has not made an impact.
In the end, for the Conservatives to improve their chances of winning the election, they must rely on voters feeling the positive effects of the NI cut and economic recovery more than the burden of rising living costs that have been prevalent in the past two years.
Source: theguardian.com
