A majority of the public believe that the wealthy should pay more tax to fund public services, a new poll has found.
The poll was carried out by Focaldata for the TUC, which found that 71% of the public believe the wealthy should pay more tax to fund public services. It also found that 65% of UK adults would ‘have more trust in politicians’ if government improved public services.
The poll findings come ahead of the Spring statement due to be delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves tomorrow, where she will give an update on the country’s finances.
The chancellor has earmarked several billion pounds in draft spending cuts to welfare and other government departments ahead of the Spring Statement.
The Labour government has committed to get debt falling as a share of the economy during the course of this Parliament, and to only borrow to fund investment, not to cover day-to-day spending.
According to the TUC, the deterioration in the quality of public services may be linked to declining trust in politicians.
The trade union body says that the restoration of our public services is not only important to the health of our economy, but also to the health of our democracy and preventing a slide towards populism and extremism.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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