Public confidence in the economy has fallen to rock bottom under Labour.
A shock poll ahead of next week’s Budget found that zero per cent of Britons now believe the economy is in a ‘very good state’. Only four per cent rated economic conditions as ‘fairly good’.
That is the same proportion of the public who still have a positive view of the disgraced former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
In contrast, 44 per cent of people think the economy is in a fairly bad state while 35 per cent described the economic situation as ‘very bad’.
The YouGov survey also found little support for Labour’s management of the economy, with just 1 per cent saying Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer are doing ‘very well’ and only 13 per cent saying ‘fairly well’.
By comparison, 77 per cent said they are doing fairly or very badly.
Even among those who voted Labour last year, the survey found more than twice the number of people now believe the party is making a bad job of handling the economy.
The bleak findings are devastating for a party that put economic competence at the heart of its project for government.
The YouGov survey found little support for Labour’s management of the economy, with just 1 per cent saying Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer are doing ‘very well’. By comparison, 77 per cent said they are doing fairly or very badly
They follow the most chaotic run-up to a Budget in years, which saw the Chancellor dangle the prospect of the first rise in the basic rate of income tax for half a century, only for the Treasury to announce a panicked U-turn just days later amid a mounting backlash.
Fears were rising at Westminster last night that the Chancellor is plotting to unleash another punishing tax bomb when she finally sets out her plans next week.
Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: ‘We are witnessing the most shambolic pre-Budget period in memory. The constant leaking, briefing and kite-flying is fuelling uncertainty and damaging our economy.
‘When not a single voter believes the economy is in a very good state, it’s a stark verdict on the Chancellor’s record – a record defined by her own choices.
‘She has spent and borrowed like there’s no tomorrow.’
Sir Keir Starmer yesterday refused to rule out extending the long-running freeze on tax thresholds, despite Ms Reeves warning last year such a move would ‘hurt working people’ and break Labour’s manifesto.
Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies yesterday found that extending the freeze another two years would cost basic rate taxpayers another £405 a year by the end of the decade, while the growing army of higher rate taxpayers would be hit with an extra bill of £1,129.
The move would also drag an extra million individuals into the income tax system, including many who survive on a state pension. The number paying 40p tax would rise to 10.1 million, including police sergeants and senior nurses and teachers.
Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: ‘We are witnessing the most shambolic pre-Budget period in memory’
The stealth tax raid would raise around £8.5billion – roughly equal to the cost of Labour’s abandoned welfare cuts and the expected lifting of the two-child benefit cap.
During clashes with Kemi Badenoch in the Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister repeatedly refused to say whether Labour will keep its pledge to end the freeze on thresholds.
He said the Budget would ‘protect the NHS and public services’. Tory leader Mrs Badenoch said the Budget uncertainty was causing ‘real anxiety’ in the economy. ‘People aren’t buying houses, businesses aren’t hiring, and they are cancelling investment decisions,’ she said.
‘Two weeks ago, the Chancellor called a ridiculous press conference to blame everyone else for her having to raise income tax. Then last week, she U-turned on her own U-turn.
‘They are making it up as they go along. Doesn’t the country deserve better than government by guesswork?’
Business leaders have also stepped up warnings that their sector cannot afford a repeat of last year’s tax raid employers.
Senior figures also issued fresh warnings about the cost of Ed Miliband’s controversial Net Zero agenda.
Paul Greenwood, UK chairman of ExxonMobil, which announced the closure of a major ethylene plant this week, told the BBC: ‘The Government needs to understand that the whole industrial base of the UK is at risk unless they wake up and realise the damage their economic policies are doing.’
Ms Reeves briefed Labour MPs that she is planning to impose a form of ‘mansion tax’
The Chancellor said she would be ‘taking targeted action to bring down inflation to address the cost of living’ in next week’s Budget.
She is expected to unveil moves to cut around £150 off energy bills by funding green levies through general taxation. She is also expected to announce a four per cent rise in the minimum wage and a similar increase in benefit payments.
Ms Reeves also briefed Labour MPs this week that she is planning to impose a form of ‘mansion tax’, either by introducing an annual levy on expensive homes or by hiking council tax on properties in bands F, G and H.
The political stakes for the PM and Chancellor are sky high, with allies fearing that they could be ousted if the Budget unravels.
