Blog/Polling
Only 1-in-5 Brits thought the Autumn Budget was fair
Last week’s Autumn Budget did very little to assuage the public’s deep concerns about the state of the economy, their expectations of cutting back on personal spending over the next 12 months, and their lack of confidence that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are the right people to turn the economy around.
Overall, 44% of the public thought the budget’s measures overall were unfair (including 3-in-10 2024 Labour voters), double the share who thought they were fair (22%).
Focaldata conducted a nationally representative survey of the British public between 26 and 28 November 2025, with a sample size of 1,343 respondents.
Of the individual measures announced, taxing salary-sacrifice pension contributions was the least popular policy announced. Only 20% of Brits think that was the right thing to do, versus 48% who say it was wrong. Notably, 40% of Labour’s 2024 voters thought it was the wrong thing to do.
Our polling shows that public opinion moved against scrapping the two-child benefit cap over the course of last week. Prior to the budget, the public backed the measure 39–37%, but opposition climbed 7 points to 44% post budget, while support fell 2 points to 37%.
We also find that Labour has now lost the majority of its 2024 voters who are ‘just about managing’ or ‘finding it difficult’ economically – two groups which make up half of the party’s winning coalition last summer. 1-in-5 are now voting Reform, and 1-in-5 are backing the Greens. The party meanwhile, is retaining 70% of its voters who describe themselves as 'living comfortably' or 'doing alright'.
At the national level, there has been little change in voting intention since before the budget. Reform now stands at 29% (+1), Labour on 20% (-), the Conservatives on 18% (-2), the Lib Dems on 13% (-) and the Greens at another all-time high of 12% (+2).
There have been minor improvements in the public’s economic outlook following the budget, but overall opinion remains very pessimistic. Just 18% expect the economy to improve over the next 12 months (up 3 since before the budget), with 54% expecting it to get worse (down 4 since pre-budget). Likewise, there has been a slight reduction in the share of Brits who say they will struggle to pay their mortgage/rent over the next 12 months, falling to 35% from 39% pre-budget.
However, faith in the Chancellor to turn the country’s economy around remains low. Just 13% of the public hold a favourable view of Rachel Reeves (+1 since pre-budget), with 57% holding an unfavourable view (+3 since pre-budget). A majority of the public think Rachel Reeves should leave her post as Chancellor, including 2-in-5 2024 Labour voters.
Data tables can be found here.
“Rachel Reeves MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer (Leeds West and Pudsey, Labour)” by House of Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
