Reducing inflation must be the top priority for Jeremy Hunt in next week’s Budget, say eight in 10 people. Tackling soaring prices is a major concern for households across Britain and is seen as key to restoring prosperity. And 78 per cent of those quizzed by Redfield and Wilton Strategies in an exclusive poll for the Sunday Express said reducing inflation should be a high or very high priority for the Chancellor. It was a higher priority than funding public services, which 65 per cent of those polled want addressed.
Bringing an end to strikes that have hit the country hard in recent months was picked by 61 per cent.
Addressing national debt was chosen by 60 per cent and reducing the tax burden was the priority of 58 per cent.
Inflation fell to 10.1 per cent in January – the lowest level since September – but it remains a huge cause of concern for cash-strapped voters as bills continue to soar in the cost-of-living crisis.
And it was a greater priority for respondents than stimulating business investment (48 per cent), increasing defence spending (38 per cent), or getting older people into the workforce (23 per cent).
Tory MPs echoed the results. Danny Kruger, who represents Devizes and who served as a key adviser to David Cameron, said: “The public is right that inflation is the top priority.
“It’s also the first mission Rishi Sunak has set himself, to halve inflation this year.
“But we also need growth and that means a more competitive environment for businesses – less red tape, less tax and more incentives to hire British workers.”
Prominent Brexiteer Andrea Jenkyns shares voters’ insistence that tackling inflation must be Mr Hunt’s top goal.
The MP for Morley and Outwood said: “Prioritising a reduction in inflation must be the focus of the Budget.
“That’s the only way to see markets return to the strength of pre-war levels, reducing costs for families – whether that’s when they’re doing the weekly shop, fuelling up, or paying their energy bills.”
Tom Clougherty, a tax expert at the Centre for Policy Studies, said the public were right to “worry about inflation and to prioritise bringing it down”.
He said: “Stable prices are important to ordinary families and big businesses alike.”
But he added tackling inflation is the “Bank of England’s job” and it should have raised interest rates much earlier. Mr Clougherty added: “As for the Chancellor, he’s in a tough position – trying to support stretched public services while also keeping borrowing under control.
“It will be hard to do either of those unless he can get the economy firing on all cylinders, which is why I think he needs to focus on reforms that support growth.”
The polling found strong evidence that people want the Chancellor to bring in tax cuts to help with the cost of living.
Six out of 10 (58 per cent) said fuel duties were too high with just nine per cent saying they were too low.
When asked whether reducing taxes or bringing down the national debt should be the higher priority, 49 per cent went for the cutting taxes with just 36 per cent preferring the latter option.
Half of respondents (49 per cent) said the Government has the money to pay public sector workers more, with only three in 10 saying it did not.
However, only 31 per cent supported borrowing more money to pay public sector workers with 32 per cent opposed.
Around one in three (34 per cent) would support tax increases to boost public sector pay, while 31 per cent oppose the move.
There is caution about the Government’s plan to increase corporation tax from 19 per cent to 25 per cent next month.
Thirty-two per cent supported the move but nearly a quarter opposed it (24 per cent). And while three out of 10 respondents said corporation tax is too high, 19 per cent said it is too low.
John Longworth, the former director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce who now leads the Independent Business Network, said: “Fixing inflation is a priority for business and people alike.
“As it happens inflation will fall naturally in 2023. However a major risk lies with the cost of energy which affects not just fuel poverty but also the cost of production and transport of everything.”
Pressing for the introduction of the controversial fracking process to generate energy and a “major nuclear programme”, Mr Longworth added: “If we do not achieve low-cost energy security, Britain’s long-term prosperity is in jeopardy.”
