Voters Want Government Money Spent On The NHS More Than Anything Else, Poll Says
4 min read
Voters want Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to prioritise spending on the National Health Service above all government departments in the Budget next week, new polling shows.
According to the findings of a new Savanta poll, shared exclusively with PoliticsHome ahead of that fiscal event, exactly three quarters of people believe the health service "should be protected" from spending cuts — more than any government department included.
The next most popular area to receive public spending was pensions and welfare, with 68 per cent of people saying it should be protected by cuts when Reeves delivers the Government's first Budget since winning power on Wednesday.
Crime and policing was third (65 per cent), and education fourth (63 per cent).
Savanta's UK Political Research Director, Chris Hopkins, said the results show the NHS will be a key "yardstick" by which Keir Starmer's Labour Government is judged by the public at the next general election.
"Labour is expected to lead on the NHS, and for them more than the Tories, the state of the health service come election time will be a bigger vote loser for Labour if it isn’t seen to have remedied the significant challenges the sector face," he told PoliticsHome.
The health service is the top ranked spending priority for people across the political party spectrum. It was ranked highest by people who voted Labour on 4 July (77 per cent), as well as those who voted Conservative (79 per cent), Liberal Democrat (78 per cent), Reform (74 per cent) and Green (80 per cent).
NHS funding is expected to be a major focus of the Budget when Reeves takes to her feet in the House of Commons next week. Starmer, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and other senior ministers regularly describe the health service as in crisis and needing to be saved.
However, the Government has repeatedly warned the country that it will need to take "difficult decisions" in order to repair public finances, and difficult decisions may come in the form of public spending cuts to other government departments in the Budget.
According to the Savanta survey, people believe overseas aid should be the biggest priority when it comes to spending cuts by far (60 per cent). The next is local government (38 per cent), with the environment and climate change third (36 per cent).
"Our research suggests that above all over areas, the public want the NHS to be protected from any spending cuts, reflecting not only its importance to Labour, but the sacrosanct nature in which it is viewed by the public," said Hopkins.
"That’s the cold, hard reality of government, and ministers whose departmental funding is not protected know that they’re going to have to fight tooth and nail for every penny to ensure that they can achieve their own policy wins in the coming years."
He added: "Grumbles from inside the Government that Wes Streeting [Health Secretary] and the NHS has received above the odds funding should look again at public polling."
The Savanta poll also found that people are much more likely to support (39 per cent) than oppose (22 per cent) suggestions that Starmer and Reeves should increase borrowing to invest in large infrastructure projects in the UK as part of their economic policy.
Reeves on Thursday confirmed that she would re-write the Government's fiscal rules in order to unlock more borrowing and spending power.
"Under the plans that I have inherited from the previous Conservative government, public sector net investment as a share of our economy was due to decline steeply during the course of this parliament.
"I don't want that path for Britain when there are so many opportunities in industries from life sciences to carbon capture, storage and clean energy to AI and technology, as well as the need to repair our crumbling schools and hospitals," Reeves said, speaking in Washington.
The Savanta survey of 2,135 people was carried out between 18-20 October.
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