News of the poll comes ahead of the budget this week, where the Tories are expected to cut taxes in a pre-election giveaway

After 14 years of Tory austerity and funding cuts, our public services are crumbling. Millions also find themselves struggling to make ends meet amid a cost of living crisis, while up and down the country people are also struggling to get the care they need from the NHS.

And yet despite the concerns and demands of the British public, the Tories continue to bury their heads in the sand. With a general election expected to take place later this year, rather than investing in public services which have been left decimated after more than 14 years of Tory austerity, the government is instead prioritising tax cuts.

A poll carried out in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s constituency by Survation and paid for by 38 Degrees supporters, shows that even in his own constituency of Godalming and Ash in Surrey, voters want the government to prioritise investing in public services over cutting taxes by a margin of 3-1.

News of the poll comes ahead of the budget this week, where the Tories are expected to cut taxes in a pre-election giveaway.

38 Degrees’ polling results showed that when voters in Hunt’s constituency were asked what the main issues determining their general election vote would be, ‘Health and the NHS’ (34%) came top, followed by ‘Cost of Living’ (27%) and ‘The Economy Generally’ (19%).  By contrast, just 4% of the Chancellor’s constituents said tax was a key election issue.

The political-activism organisation also reported: “Offered the choice between tax cuts and increases to public spending, the verdict of his intended constituents was crystal clear: nearly 7 in 10 (67%) people said increasing funding for public services like the NHS would be more important in determining their vote at the next general election. In comparison,  just 25% said tax cuts would be more important.”

Voters in Hunt’s constituency also reported difficulties in being able to access NHS care. 1 in 3 (33%) of his constituents had waited six months or more for NHS treatment, while 28% had shelled out for private healthcare.

Nearly 6 in 10 people (59%) say close friends or family had experienced difficulty in booking a GP appointment and almost half (47%) had struggled to book an appointment themselves.

The latest poll is in line with another poll published in January, which found that ‘almost two thirds of Britons think any available fiscal headroom should be used to improve schools and hospitals, compared to just over a quarter who say it should go toward cutting income tax’, Bloomberg reported.

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

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