Half of Britons think Rachel Reeves is doing a bad job as Chancellor (Image: Getty)
Britons have delivered a devastating verdict on Rachel Reeves’s record as Chancellor with just 15% saying she is doing a good job and nearly seven out of 10 stating she was wrong to strip all but the poorest pensioners of winter fuel payments.
Exclusive polling by Ipsos reveals the depth of public fear about the state of the economy, with nearly half (47%) expecting unemployment to go up and fewer than one in 10 (9%) thinking it will fall.
50% say she is doing a bad job. This is almost as poor as Kwasi Kwarteng’s 53% rating in September 2022 when he delivered Liz Truss’s mini-Budget, which was widely blamed for unleashing economic turmoil.
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said: “The Chancellor has shown appalling judgment… The public can see the consequences of Labour’s disastrous Budget, their failed economic policies and their broken promises.
“This Labour Chancellor is out of her depth and we’re all paying the price.”
The polling found more than half of Britons (52%) are less confident the economy will grow as a result of her decisions. A mere 14% say they are more confident and only 15% think she is doing a good job.
Ms Reeves has united the country in opposition to her axing of universal winter fuel payments for pensioners. This is opposed by 67% of Britons – including 53% of people who voted Labour in the summer election, as well as 62% of those who backed the Liberal Democrats, 82% of Conservative voters, and 85% of people who cast a vote for Reform UK.
A Labour MP warned the rolling back of winter fuel payments had been “extremely” damaging for the Government and generated a “huge amount of anger”.
The polling comes as the Chancellor faces intense scrutiny over claims about her employment history on her public CV and her expenses while working at Halifax Bank of Scotland.
The MP said: “I think she’s in the danger zone. I think there are people around her who want rid of her and I think there are people around Starmer who want rid of her.”
Caroline Abrahams of Age UK urged the Chancellor to change the policy on winter fuel payments to avoid a “disaster next winter”.
She said: “In recent weeks we have heard far too many stories of pensioners brutally rationing their energy use, putting their health at risk in the process. The work of planning how we avoid a repetition next year needs to start now.”
The Ipsos polling also reveals deep concern about the Chancellor’s decision to hike up employers’ National Insurance contributions. Critics have blasted this as a “jobs tax” which could fuel unemployment.
More than half (53%) say this was the wrong decision.
John Longworth, co-founder of the Independent Business Network, called for Ms Reeves to be sacked, saying: “The Chancellor has crashed the economy and condemned us to a doom loop of stagflation.”
The latest figures show the economy grew by just 0.1% in the last quarter of 2024, following no growth in the previous three months. The Bank of England has halved its growth forecast for this year to a mere 0.75%.
There are strong expectations the Chancellor will have to announce spending cuts if the Office for Budget Responsibility warns next month she is on course to break her own fiscal rules.
Maxwell Marlow of the Adam Smith Institute voiced concern, saying: “The recent Budget has only worsened our dire economic situation. Rather than reducing the burdens on businesses, which create the growth and jobs we need, the Government has hiked taxes to an unsustainable level.”
He called on her to “urgently reverse the National Insurance increase”.
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson said it is clear the Chancellor is “out of her depth and only hurting the pockets of British people”.
Pressing the Prime Minister to take action, he said: “Her Budget is one of the most economically damaging acts taken in recent years. It’s time Starmer took action and reversed her tax hikes.”
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Builder says he’ll ‘walk to John O’Groats in my pants’ if Labour’s 1.5m homes ever happen
The Government plans to build 1.5m homes in England (Image: Getty)
A property expert says he will to “walk to John O’Groats in my boxers” if the Government achieves its plan of building 1.5m new homes in England by 2029.
Clive Holland’s tongue-in-cheek comment comes as he warns there is a shortage of workers and more needs to be done to get youngsters into the industry.
The builder-turned-broadcaster told the Daily Express: “It’s not going to happen.
“If it happens, I will walk from here to John O’Groats in my boxers. It’s never going to happen, it’s just not going to happen.
“We haven’t got the people.”
Clive Holland, who is a presenter for Fix Radio, says more workers are needed (Image: Fix Radio)
According to the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), the UK needs an extra 250,000 construction workers by 2028 in order to meet demand.
Meanwhile, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) warns planning approvals for new housing are at their lowest level since records began in 2006.
Clive, who used to present the BBC One daytime show Cowboy Trap and is now a host on construction station Fix Radio, said it’s time to “educate the educators” to get young people into the industry.
He said: “We’ve got loads of construction collegiates around the country that are dying on their backside because they haven’t got enough kids in there. This could all be changed with a different mindset.”
This week marks National Apprenticeship Week and research from Checkatrade shows 350,000 new apprentices are needed in order to deliver the Government’s housing and net zero targets.
Sir Keir Starmer visited a housing project in Milton Keynes this week (Image: Getty)
Oliver Sidwell, co-founder of apprenticeship website RateMyApprenticeship, told the Express that a lack of young people entering the construction industry is playing a part in a “chronic shortage of skilled workers in the UK”.
The shortage is expected to be further impacted by estimations that almost one million construction workers will retire within the next decade and a decrease of overseas workers since Brexit.
Clive Dickin, chief executive of the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation trade body, told the Express earlier this week that scaffolders face “significant” challenges in helping meet the target.
He said: “We have 1,200 vacancies currently… adding extra demand into that is naturally going to be a challenge, but we will step up.”
The Prime Minister’s visit on Thursday to a building site in Milton Keynes to promote his housing policies was cut short after a noisy protest by tractor-driving farmers.
Sir Keir Starmer said he is “determined to make the dream of homeownership a reality for people across the country”.
“Through our Plan for Change, we will build 1.5 million homes and deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.”
A Ministry of Housing spokesperson previously told the Express: “We are clear that all new homes must be built to the highest standard and we are taking a range of steps to invest in the construction industry and build up essential skills so we can deliver the homes this country badly needs.”
