I had not previously noticed an opinion poll brought out by Ipsos Mori in mid-December. They asked people over a range of ten indicators whether they thought that the government was doing a good or bad job. These were the findings:
That's a negative score on everything bar vaccines. Even in a usually strong area for the Tories, like the economy, there was a significant negative ranking. On many issues the scoring was dire.
I do, of course, know all the weaknesses in polling. But, that being said this is a grim set of data for the government, and as 2022 begins it can only get worse. They are not managing the omicron variant well, and most people will know it.
None of this does, of course, say that people think Labour would necessarily do better. Although their poll ranking has risen significantly that is more a measure of the frustration that this poll indicates than positive support. But, that said, I do take a positive from this. It is that people in this country have yet to embrace the idea that the role of the government is to see a problem and then walk away from it, which is what this government does.
They expect initiative and not inaction.
They demand that issues be addressed, rather than verbiage be offered.
They think that a government should deliver on promises, like levelling up, even if no one really knows what it is.
This is important. There is evidence that some people now despise government for simply being in existence. This appears to be the motive for much of the anti-vax lobby. For reasons that they seem to find very hard to explain they loathe the idea of government, and associate it with the idea of expertise, which they detest with equal venom, although what they would out in the place of either is very hard to work out.
What I read into this poll data is that this is not a comm0n-place view. The framing of the questions is about action e.g. 'improving the NHS' rather than simply 'is the NHS doing a good job?' Asking the questions in that way gives very poor results. If that is the case then. it is reasonable to conclude that people want pro-active government still.
So do I. But we're not going to get it with the Tories in office. Those seeking power should take note. The Tory way of 'leaving things to the market to sort out' is no longer an option that people want.
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It seems to me that the real issue is tat under Starmer, Labour are trying to ‘Out Tory’ the Tories rather than provide a vision of how things might be with a braver state and of course revitalised local government.
As a for example where is a major Council House building programme?
[…] have already noted this morning that the general public is little enamoured with the endeavours of the UK government. It is fair to […]
‘Council House building’
It’s happening John but it will be slow as Covid (lack of vaccine sharing perhaps in producer countries) and BREXIT issues continue to hammer supply chains. My org has 4 large schemes in the pipeline for the 2021-26 Affordable Housing Programme, plus others that self funded through borrowing from the housing revenue account (HRA) .
And don’t forget ‘Help to Buy’ where really rich people of means who can send their kids to private schools can get state help to buy mansions in the over-inflated SE housing market in the name of levelling up. I kid you not. The Government uses the Shared Ownership route for Homes England to make that obscenity a reality. I’m trying to find out how much Government money has gone into that as opposed to (say) housing for rent (social housing).
I’m not surprised to see ‘managing immigration’ is so high. People like me think it’s too hostile and restrictive while others think it’s too lax. Was there any qualification of what the question was actually asking?
I do not know
Well, that’s the pecking order for you. I don’t believe anyone genuinely thinks immigration is a problem, because the very same people support harmful policies that force the immigrants to come into the country and secondly because people want someone weaker to bully and the victim is usually part of a poorly organized group, usually minorities of any kind.
Nobody on this planet thinks “Hey if we didn’t start an economic war against this nation, maybe their people would stop coming to us” because the perceived benefit of the economic war outweighs the cost of dealing with immigrants.
I have a cousin living in Germany for over 30 years,married with children.From what he says about public ownership of water and other utilities,high unionisation and 8% income tax put aside into a state pension pot,they seem like dangerous left wingers rather than one of the most successful economies in Europe,if not the world.And a perfect example of active government at national,provincial and local level.Very Brexit un-friendly,I imagine.