Brits back Blair’s growth calls – yet are squeamish over welfare cuts
Most Britons back Tony Blair’s demands to prioritise cheaper energy over net zero and support the private sector to boost growth, yet are squeamish over slashing disability payments and reforming the triple lock pension, polling has shown.
Following up on Tony Blair’s rallying call for potential Labour leadership contenders to focus on growth, Morning Wire/Freshwater Strategy polling has shown that more Brits back measures to support growth even if it led to other manifesto commitments being abandoned – although the margin of support is narrow.
Research found that around 47 per cent of voters believed the government should prioritise economic growth even if it meant that commitments on workers’ rights, equalising minimum wages across all age groups and hitting net zero targets were abandoned.
Some 45 per cent of voters said the government should commit to its manifesto commitments, while eight per cent were unsure in the poll of around 1,250 voters.
Around 55 per cent of Labour voters backed a push for economic growth over standing by manifesto commitments.
A majority of voters (59 per cent) also backed the government to prioritise economic growth by deregulation and controlling public spending, compared to 32 per cent who preferred a focus on redistribution and investment funded by higher taxes on wealth and capital.
Conflicting response to Blair’s policies
The figures may reflect a general support for Blair’s agenda as the former Prime Minister called for the government to ditch policies he believed were holding the UK economy back.
But on a policy-by-policy basis, it was shown that voters were more squeamish about cuts to disability payments and reforms to the triple-lock pension, which were essential to Blair’s focus on growth.
Around 31 per cent disagreed with the notion that the triple lock pension had become too expensive for the government to maintain, despite criticism from economists across the political spectrum and a growing number of former ministers.
Nearly half of voters (49 per cent) also disagreed that the government should make cuts to disability and incapacity benefits.
Just 28 per cent of voters agreed that the triple lock pension was too expensive and that disability payments should be cut.
Polling also showed that the public generally supported allowing the NHS to use the private sector to improve performance and giving energy companies the green light to increase North Sea oil and gas drilling.
Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting’s focus on inequality also appears to be backed by the public as 60 per cent agreed that inequality was one of the most important problems facing the UK today.
Method note: Freshwater Strategy interviewed n=1,237 eligible voters in the UK, aged 18+ online, between 29 – 31 May 2026. Margin of Error +/- 2.8%. Data are weighted to be representative of UK voters. Freshwater Strategy are members of the British Polling Council and abide by their rules.