‘Sharp fall’ in number who think Government not doing enough on cost of living

Half the population still think the Government needs to do more to combat the cost-of-living crisis, a poll has found.

Despite the announcement of £15 billion in new support on May 26, pollster Ipsos found 49% of people thought the Government was not providing enough help in the face of soaring inflation.

However, that figure is significantly lower than the 76% who said the Government was not doing enough at the start of May, while the proportion who think the Government is providing the right amount of support has more than doubled to 25%.

Keiran Pedley, research director at Ipsos, said: “There are some encouraging signs for the Conservatives in these numbers, with a sharp fall in the number of Britons that think the Government is not doing enough on the cost of living.”

There has also been a small increase in support for the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, following his announcement of more help.

People are still divided on whether he is doing a good job, but the number that think he is doing a bad job has fallen from 37% to 32%.

The opposition continues to lead on both managing Britain’s taxes and public spending and reducing the cost of living.

Some 40% of people trust the Labour Party to manage taxes and spending, compared with 34% who trust the Conservatives, while Labour’s lead on reducing the cost of living is even wider at 13 points.

There has been little change in the parties’ relative positions on managing taxes and spending since March 2022, with trust for the Conservatives in the mid-30s and trust for Labour in the low 40s.

Trust in the Conservatives on reducing the cost of living has increased slightly from 25% in early April to 29% this week, but trust in Labour remains in the low 40s.

Mr Pedley added: “With Labour still more trusted on the issue and almost two-thirds not trusting the Conservatives, there is clearly more work to be done for the Conservatives to convince the public they have the right answers on the issue the public care about most.”