Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement failed to lift the Conservatives out of a second year lagging behind in a national opinion poll.
The chancellor’s fiscal package was only followed by a 1% increase ahead of a General Election due to be called by Rishi Sunak next year.
The Tories were the party of choice for 28% of people surveyed by Deltapoll, compared to 42% for Labour and 11% for the Lib Dems.
In the week before the parliamentary statement on November 22, the prime minister’s party had 27% of the share, with Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour tracking in at 44%, the Deltapoll survey found.
Director Joe Twyman said: ‘There has been a narrowing of the gap between the Conservatives and Labour, but it is within the margin of error.
‘The Conservatives are up one point, Labour are down two points.
‘Crucially, there has been on change in the economic competence data either, so if you had to summarise all of this you would say the Autumn Statement as yet has had no significant impact on our polling, either voting intention or economic indicators.’
The last time the Tories were ahead in the UK public opinion consultancy’s poll was in November 2021, when Boris Johnson was in No10.
Mr Hunt’s statement was widely viewed by political commentators as preparing the ground for the election, with the package including cuts to National Insurance contributions, a rise in the National Living Wage and committing to the pensions triple lock.
However there was no sign of a significant electoral revival among the 1,996 adults surveyed by Deltapoll.
‘Ultimately, most people, that is the average person in the street, is not paying attention to the specifics of the Autumn Statement,’ Mr Twyman said.
‘In the artificial construct of a survey instrument, when you ask people if they support or oppose the specific policies that were announced during the statement, most have the majority of people supporting them.
‘But the majority of people didn’t think it would make a difference to them or to the economy and their expectations for their household situation and the UK’s economic situation remained unchanged.
‘Effectively, the statement has so far not cut through.
‘It may be that further down the line, once the changes come into effect and people feel the difference in their wallets, that it changes their minds.’
The election run-up comes with the Tories emerging from a merry-go-round of prime ministers and controversies after 13 years in power.
‘If the last 10 years in British politics have taught us anything, it’s that anything can happen,’ Mr Twyman said. ‘But for every day that this gap of double figures is maintained, and it’s coming up to two years that the Conservatives were ahead in any published opinion poll, it becomes more and more difficult to see Rishi Sunak staying in Downing Street.’
In a separate poll of the most popular politicians and political figures, there was more dismal reading for the Tories. Sir Keir stood at 13, with Mr Sunak lagging behind at 29 in the YouGov list.
The General Election is due to be called by the prime minister next year ahead of the December 17 cut off.
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