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  1. Business
  2. Economics
25 May 2012

The British public backs Francois Hollande, a new YouGov poll suggests

The new poll contains some pretty bad news for the austerity junkies.

By Mehdi Hasan

A YouGov poll out today, and commissioned by the new trade-union-backed thinktank, Class, reveals that the British public strongly favours the anti-austerity policies championed by the new Socialist President of France, Francois Hollande, including:

  • establishing a publicly-owned bank that will lend to small and medium businesses (74 per cent strongly support or tend to support)
  • introducing a 75 per cent top rate of income tax for those earning over £1 million per year (56 per cent strongly support or tend to support)
  • providing more financial support for young people from low income families, so they can better afford to go to college or university (73 per cent strongly support or tend to support) 
  • a national programme of building 500,000 extra homes a year, including 150,000 new council houses (64 per cent strongly support or tend to support)
  • bringing in a new tax on financial transactions by investment banks (61 per cent strongly support or tend to support).

Do you want to know what the new “centre ground” on the economy looks like? Well, this is it.

As Unite’s Steve Hart, the chair of Class, argues over at Left Foot Forward:

Except on the income tax proposal – the Tories split 42-51% on that – all these policies were backed by supporters of all parties. The proposal for a publically owned bank to lend to small and medium business had the support of 74% of those polled. Even 72% of Tory voters supported it.

He adds:

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Labour’s tentative proposal for a British Investment Bank must surely now become a strong pledge.

What on earth are the two Eds waiting for?

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