The 'People's Emergency Budget' unveiled

The government is said to be planning an Emergency Budget, to implement some of the major measures in its manifesto sooner rather than later. It's thought that some of the tax cuts could be in there, along with some of the welfare cuts announced so far. But when a group of researchers asked people what they really wanted to see in this Emergency Budget, their priorities looked quite different - and some of them came as quite a shock.

More than 10,000 completed the survey for SunLife, which revealed that the government's plans to invest in pensions and spend money on older people are not as popular as you might think - even among older people. Instead they want the government to invest in the NHS.

NHS

Overall survey respondents wanted the government's spending on the NHS, social care and mental health to be boosted by £138.3 billion - to become the biggest item in the Budget. They wanted to pay for a good chunk of this with welfare cuts of 25% - targeting unemployment benefit, jobseekers' allowance, child benefit and the minimum wage.

Surprisingly they wanted to pay for another chunk of it with a 32% cut in spending on older people - from £150 billion to £101.7 billion. This, they thought was possible through cuts to pensions, the winter fuel allowance and social care.

The government's plans for tax cuts are also popular, but those who took part in the survey wanted to see them go much further - cutting them from £7 billion to £17.9 billion.
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Dramatic changes

Dean Lamble, SunLife's managing director added: "With an ageing UK population, pressure on areas such as welfare and state pensions will only increase. But voters - even the over 50s - told us they want to reduce spending in these areas in favour of lower taxes and bigger health, education and environment budgets."

All these changes, plus an increase in spending on education and more than a 50% increase in spending on law and order, would radically reorder the government's spending priorities. At the moment older people are the top priority, but people want to see that pushed into second place. Currently healthcare is in second place, but this would be promoted to become the top priority. Likewise welfare spending would drop from third place to fourth - switching place with education, and defence would drop out of the top five - replaced by law and order.

Why this isn't gong to happen

One of the most revealing facts from this survey was the fact that although all age groups wanted to see spending on older people fall, the older that survey respondents were, the more they wanted to see spent on older people, and the younger they were, the more they wanted to see spent on education.

This could explain the difference between what a broad cross section of the public wants to see, and what a Conservative Party promised during a General Election campaign. The average age of a Conservative Party member is 59, and 61% of them are aged 60 and over. Meanwhile, the older they are, the more likely they are to actually turn out and vote. It means that targeting older people was always going to be a major vote winner.

The government isn't implementing a 'people's' emergency budget - they are issuing one of their own, reflecting their own priorities and those of the people who voted for them. The question is what it will mean for you.

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