4 January 2013

The poll that shows Labour can win the argument over benefits

The better educated people are about the benefits system, the less likely they are to support the coalition's reforms.

At first glance, the latest poll on the government’s benefit cuts might appear discouraging for opponents of the coalition’s approach. YouGov’s survey for the TUC found that 48 per cent of people support George Osborne’s plan to cap benefit increases at 1 per cent for the next three years, with 32 per cent opposed. However, their support is based on the false belief that the unemployed will be most affected by the move (64 per cent believed they would be). When informed that the cap will also affect low-paid workers receiving in-work benefits (60 per cent of the cut falls on working families), support for the policy falls to 30 per cent and opposition rises to 40 per cent.

Ahead of next Tuesday’s vote on the government’s Welfare Uprating Bill, which will enshrine in law Osborne’s plan to raise benefits by 1 per cent, rather than in line with inflation (which currently stands at 2.7 per cent), the poll should stiffen the resolve of Labour, which has vowed to oppose the legislation. The clear evidence is that the better educated people are about the benefits system, the less likely they are to support the coalition’s reforms. The moral and political duty for Labour is to raise the public’s level of understanding. The poll reveals how widespread ignorance about the welfare system is:

On average, people think that 41 per cent of welfare spending goes on benefits to the unemployed. The actual figure is three per cent.
People believe that 27 per cent of benefits are claimed fraudulently. The goverment’s own figure is 0.7 per cent.
On average, people think that almost half (48 per cent) of those who claim Jobseeker’s Allowance do so for more than a year. The true figure is 27.8 per cent.
People guessed that an unemployed couple with two school-aged children would receive £147 a week in Jobseeker’s Allowance. They would actually receive £111.45.

Significantly, the poll found that while 53 per cent of those who gave the least accurate answers believe that benefits are too generous, less than a third (31 per cent) of those who gave the most accurate answers think that they are. As TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady says, it’s not surprising that voters generally favour punitive welfare cuts – “They think the system is much more generous than it is in reality, is riddled with fraud and is heavily skewed towards helping the unemployed, who they think are far more likely to stay on the dole than is actually the case.”

But as long as Labour continues to emphasise that the main victims of the real-terms cut will be the working poor, while also reminding the public that the majority of the unemployed have worked or will work again soon, there is good reason to believe that it can win the argument.