Support for bringing public services back in house

A new poll, commissioned by GMB, has highlighted support for an end to austerity, an increase in spending and for public services to be brought back in house.

Released ahead of the Chancellor’s Spring Budget, the poll showed that 62 per cent of those polled want a real terms increase in spending on public services, with 60 per cent believing that the cuts to public spending have gone too far, and only eight per cent saying they've not gone not far enough.

Furthermore, 50 per cent would like all outsourced public services brought in house, with only 12 per cent wanting more outsourcing or privatisation. Worryingly, 47 per cent expect the UK economy to enter recession in the next two years.

Tim Roache, GMB General Secretary, said: “People have had nearly eight years of austerity and they’ve had enough. We’ve all seen that it’s not working - public services are at breaking point, our infrastructure is creaking and there is no government plan to create jobs. This poll shows that voters of all stripes think the government's cuts have gone too far. No matter party allegiance, people can see what cut after cut means for them, their families, their friends and their communities, and they don’t like it.

“Austerity has failed. In his Spring Budget Statement, the Chancellor has a choice. The choice is to stop the cuts and properly invest in our economy and public services, or continue with a failed policy that the electorate don’t like, don’t want and will roundly reject at the next election - because as these figures show, the policies Labour will deliver are giving people across the country hope, and a belief, that things can be different.”