Voters in Westcountry back the spending cuts
Voters in the South West have backed controversial spending cuts in a vote of confidence in the Government, a Western Morning News/Marketing Means survey has revealed.
The South West Poll indicates that 46 per cent of people in the region favour the deficit reduction programme to get the British economy back on its feet.
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By contrast, just 30 per cent of those questioned in the South West think Labour's plan, to spend more Government money to kick-start growth, is the best way forward.
However, around a quarter of people in the South West – 24 per cent – are "not sure" which is the best overall policy to follow.
The poll also found the Tories are the most trusted party on the economy.
The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition has insisted it will not flinch from deep cuts to public spending despite the eurozone crisis and flatlining British economy.
Last week Labour seized on unemployment figures reaching a 17-year high as evidence that Government policies are not working, and called for a "Plan B".
The poll was taken last weekend, in the aftermath of the conference season, where the three major parties laid out their stall on the economy.
The Tories and Lib Dems promised fast-track road and rail building schemes, and state-owned land for house-building, to boost jobs.
But ministers repeatedly pointed to the sovereign debt crisis engulfing European economies and the need to get the UK's deficit under control.
By contrast, Labour are championing a five-point economic stimulus, including a temporary VAT cut and repeat the bank bonus tax this year.
Next month the Government announces its autumn spending review which is expected to include a long-awaited growth plan.
At last year's comprehensive spending review Chancellor George Osborne set the Government on the path to clear the country's debts by 2015. But as a consequence, unions estimate 15,600 council jobs across the South West have been lost since May last year.
That includes Cornwall Council losing 2,295 jobs, Devon County Council shedding 2,110, followed by Plymouth with 1,454 and Somerset which lost 1,603.
The region has also been hit by the loss of battleships at Devonport Naval Base, leading to hundreds of personnel losing their jobs.
Reduced local authority hand-outs from Whitehall have prompted Westcountry councils to cut back services, including bus routes, libraries and leisure centres.
The survey, carried out by Ashburton-based Marketing Means, perhaps reflects the political landscape of the South West, where the two coalition parties dominate.
Some 75 per cent of Conservative supporters polled supported cuts, as did 51 per cent of those who identified themselves as Liberal Democrats.
By comparison, 57 per cent of Labour supporters favour increased spending.
Those polled were told: "Some people think that the Government needs to spend more in order to kick start growth in the economy and reduce the deficit with the increased tax receipts that that will bring.
"Others think that the deficit needs to be reduced first by making cuts to put the economy on a stable footing."
They were then given three "best policy" options: "spend more to kick start growth" (30 per cent), "cut the deficit to ensure stability" (46 per cent) and "not sure" (24 per cent).
Marketing Means also asked which party voters trusted most to handle the economy.
A quarter of voters in the South West said the Conservatives. Labour is most trusted by 21 per cent, despite constant Tory claims of its botched handling of the economy.
Only 8 per cent had most faith in the Lib Dems, disappointing for its leadership given it entered into the coalition Government to prove its economic credentials.
Marketing Means interviewed a random sample of adults aged 18-plus in the six-county-wide South West region by telephone and online between October 6 and 8, 2011. A total of 619 responses were achieved.
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by Michaelt7020
Saturday, October 29 2011, 5:21PM
“""by Karen362
Wednesday, October 19 2011, 1:18PM
.
"As a sociologist, I've always maintained that it's not the cuts people fear most, but rather the wicked stigma and oppression now associated with being in receipt of any kind of welfare. Fear of falling is what's driving local fascism here on the ground and make good people do some of the most despicable things to safeguard their incomes. But because the politicians of the Third Way (surely that's intended as a euthenism for something else, folk?) have managed to avoid any constructive dialogue about this until now, few people have the slightest idea of how bad class divisions have become in 2011. If you are poor in this town and forced to live on benefits it's rapidly becoming akin to life under the Apartheid system in South Africa. And we live in a community run along similar lines to the 1930s where any kind of legitimate dissent or attempt to raise anyone's basic self-esteem is quickly slapped down and derided as a bout of incontinence or madness.
I sometimes think I'm the only one in Torbay who has ever bothered to read any history books? Personally, I think George Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier should be compulsory reading for everyone today. After all, before the war he spent a lot of time conducting research into a number of dubious bording houses in the North of England and observed first hand how those working down the mines and in factories were treated like animals by those who lived off their labour. Anyone with the courage to stand up for themselves was invariably marginalised and humiliated by telling them they smelled of ****, since this made it relatively easy to have them swiftly despatched to the asylum where many underwent colonotomies without an aesthetic to cure their toxic hysteria. How long will it before B&Bs in Torbay resort to placing a **** pot under the breakfast table to deter malingers?
Returning to my main point, it's not that the middle classes are terrified of falling out of their economic comfort zones. It's that they fear ending up being beaten and worked to death in a modern day gulag system, which is how things are likely to deteriorate at this rate. Rather like those who assisted with the running of such diabolical institutions of torture and social cleansing during the interwar period, many feared the consequences of speaking out on their children. And we all know what happened to them, folks!
One day, we might all see the advantages of electing a childless PM!"""
Well written. A superb piece.
Hitler demeanised the jews, the gypsies, the disabled, and many people went along with this.
Thatcher demeanised welfare claiments, the unemployed, the old, the sick, the homeless.
Every single person in this country should be made to live on welfare for one year.
And the way the coalition are going, cutting public service jobs, and pensions, it would be long before this happens.”
by Michaelt7020
Saturday, October 29 2011, 5:11PM
“""What's that expression they keep using on tv? You have to be in it to feel it? Personally, I think it should be mandatory for everyone to spend a year on benefits in Torbay. It is like being tortured in the worst kind of army barracks, believe me."""
Some idiots out there actually believe that the unemployed like living on benefits. These are probably the same *********s who believe the homeless enjoy living on the streets.
There is a mindset in this country who are thick, and that's it, pure and simple.”
by Karen362
Friday, October 21 2011, 5:27PM
“Well I'm glad you two agree about something. I'm a bit put out about being told to read up on empirical investigation and critical analysis, though. What the hell do you think I've been doing in Torbay for the past 6 years, people? Rest assured, I will be the last person in Britain to subscribe to the Daily Mail...
What's that expression they keep using on tv? You have to be in it to feel it? Personally, I think it should be mandatory for everyone to spend a year on benefits in Torbay. It is like being tortured in the worst kind of army barracks, believe me.”
by omnivore23
Wednesday, October 19 2011, 3:28PM
“Doitdreckly
Couldn't agree more about the stigmatisation of people claiming benefits by the likes of the DailMail.
Not sure I agree about JSA having Orwellian overtones - it does what is says on the tin surely? It is a benefit for people who are looking for work no?
And totally disagree about the value of using emotive metaphor, as it destabilises the truth of your argument as well as insulting those at the sharp end of real Gulags and Apartheids.
I remember in the 1970's a popular slogan within some parts of the feminist movement was "all men are rapists"
.......which seriously undermined the credibility of what was essentially a totally sensible and cogent set of arguments and principles around equality between the sexes.
This kind of sloganeering and lazy use of metaphor might be fine for undergraduates, but is unworthy of adults, and does nothing to further the cause or win people over to a more enlightened way of thinking.
which after all is the point surely?”
by Doitdreckley
Wednesday, October 19 2011, 3:12PM
“Karen was using a metaphore. People are treated with disdain through 'newspapers' like the Daily Mail for claiming benefits. Successive governments have stigmatised benefit claimants (especially those on the Orwellian named 'job seekers allowance') to deter claimants. People with redundancy payments, savings or partners with jobs have difficulty getting it anyway so for these reasons alone the figures are likely to be higher than the official ones.
The loss of middle class and professional jobs through public sector cuts, privatisation or moving to overseas operation all threaten the comfortable insulation of the middle classes. This is an increasingly divided society - one in which the government threatens to stop the benefits of disabled people if they appeal against a priviate sector evaluation of whether they are fit for work - so words like 'gulag' or 'apartheid' may be emotiove but they have a ring to them.
Must disagree with Karen about a childless PM though. The last one of them we had was Ted Heath who was as big a tragic-comedy turn as the one we have now!”