In advance of the launch of the Government’s Plan for Change, More in Common asked Britons about some of the key events and actions in Labour’s first five months in office - testing how much the public has heard about what the government has done and whether they view their actions positively or negatively. The research finds some of the government’s more popular policies have been overshadowed by more unpopular spending cuts and tax increases.
The index below shows the cut through and favourability of government actions and policies in their first months in office.The proportion of the public aware of an incident or policy is mapped along the x axis, and the extent to which the public views the policy or event positively or negatively is measured on the y axis. The colour of the data points represents the strength of feeling about the issue – the darker the dot, the stronger the public’s view on the issue.
The top right corner of the graph highlights the initial ‘successes’ of the Labour government - issues that most people are aware of and think reflect positively on the government. Labour’s increase to the minimum wage is the only policy tested that meets this criteria.
The ‘Danger Zone' in the bottom right hand corner, contains the policies and events that have high levels of public awareness but also have a high proportion of the public saying they reflect negatively on the government. This zone is dominated by Labour’s fiscal measures with the means testing of the winter fuel allowance the most unpopular and most well known policy tested. This sense that Labour is unfairly targeting vulnerable groups with its tax rises and spending cuts has been a recurring theme in focus group discussions since those cuts were made in July 2024.
“Labour have come in and started with cutting the winter fuel for the pensioners. I know they're trying to recuperate some of the massive debt that we have in this country, but I think there's certain ways to go about things and other ways to try and recuperate the debt that we're in, rather than being very harsh.”
Sammy, Credit Controller, Watford
The ‘Opportunities’ section of the index contains policies that the public aren’t really aware of but when presented to them believe they reflect positively on the government. The number of policies in this section highlights the need for government communications to tell a better, positive story about what the government is achieving with the aim of turning more of these opportunities into successes.
Commenting on this research, More in Common UK Executive Director Luke Tryl said:
“The Labour Government has had a challenging start, missteps on issues like freebies have been compounded by some unpopular fiscal decisions - by being seen to target farmers through Inheritance tax changes, pensioners through winter fuel allowance means testing and small businesses through the NICs rise, the Government has ended up on the wrong side of groups that command significant public sympathy.
“In communicating the relaunch of his government, Keir Starmer must do two things. First, he needs to explain the budget better - explaining how Labour’s tax rises and spending cuts are part of a wider package of measures to boost the economy so that public services can be improved rather than individual choices to target specific and popular groups of Britons.
“Second, his government must be more disciplined and effective in communicating their more popular initiatives. Currently, far fewer Britons know about the government’s more popular actions, like the protection of the triple lock on pensions and the launch of GB Energy, than their less popular policy measures.
“Telling a better story of what this Government is for and why it is doing what it is doing will be key if Keir Starmer is to turn round the public’s perception of his government. While the public mood has not yet crystallised against Labour, it risks doing so if the public aren’t convinced the Plan for Change is going to leave them better off.”