Voters warn Sunak not to unleash austerity on public services

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Rishi Sunak was today warned not to plunge the UK into a new era of austerity as new polls showed voters would rather see taxes increase rather than cut public services.

The survey for The Independent by Savanta ComRes found overwhelming support – including among Tory voters – for a tax on extended windfall profits on energy companies and for the introduction of a wealth tax on property and other assets to ease the financial crisis facing Britons.

With half ( 50%) saying their personal finances were deteriorating, one in five (20%) feared for their job, and almost a third (29%) worried about not being able to pay their rent or mortgage, only a third (32%) ) trusted the Conservative government to manage the crisis economy - 17 points behind Labour, with Keir Starmer ahead of both Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor will use Thursday's fall statistics lying in the House of Commons to sketch plans to close a gap of up to £60bn in public finances, and aim for a split of £35bn in spending cuts and £25bn in tax hikes.

Proposals to slow increases in planned annual budgets from 3.7% to 1% after 2025 could bring in £25bn, but below-inflation increases would deal a severe blow to services such as schools, police and local government and would intensify pressure on the beleaguered NHS. .

Sunak and Hunt are under intense pressure from Tory MPs to limit the scale of tax hikes.

But unions and economists warn that the cut government spending risks prolonging the UK's recession - already set to be the longest in 100 years - in a repeat of the lost decade for growth that followed George Osborne's austerity measures in the 2010s.

“For the last decade we had this idea that economics or fiscal credibility compelled us to tear down public services and let wages go down,” TUC economi told The Independent CS head Kate Bell "And what did we get? The weakest growth in decades, rising debt levels and a country that doesn't was utterly unprepared for the shocks that have hit us in recent years.

"I really challenge anyone who rega rder around the UK right now and say what we have is overfunded public services and overpaid civil servants. The...