Daily Research News Online no. 4762 - MORI and GfK NOP Find Pessimistic UK Public

MORI and GfK NOP Find Pessimistic UK Public

October 31 2005

The latest Deloitte/MORI Delivery Index finds the UK public pessimistic about government policies on the economy and public services, in a sharp contrast to the post-election 'honeymoon period' earlier this year. GfK's Consumer Confidence Barometer for October also paints a gloomy picture as it falls for the third consecutive month.

Immediately after the election in May this year, the Deloitte/MORI index found that optimists outnumbered pessimists by 47% to 38%. Now these figures are reversed: 50% do not think the government's policies will improve the economy in the long term, while 39% are optimistic.

Similarly, the proportion thinking the government's policies will improve Britain's public services has fallen from 43% in May to 34% in September. 55% are now pessimistic on this measure.

Optimism about the NHS shows the most marked drop, with just 26% thinking it will get better, compared with 37% in May. The percentage of people who believe it will get worse has increased by a similar amount - from 28% to 37%. Public expectations of the NHS are now close to the worst level recorded by the Index, in September 2003.

There has also been a large decline in expectations about the quality of the environment, with 47% believing it will get worse, compared with 38% just after the election. Only 22% now think it will get better. 35% think public transport will get worse (25% think it will improve), but there is more optimism regarding education - 25% think it will worsen whereas 33% believe it will get better.

MORI interviewed 971 British adults by phone between 16 and 18 September 2005.

The Consumer Confidence Barometer, managed by GfK NOP (formerly GfK Martin Hamblin) on behalf of the European Commission, fell to -8 in October from -5 in September. This takes the index to its lowest level since March 2003.

The fall is driven by decreases in all but one of the five key areas. Details are as follows:

The major purchases measure has dropped seven points from +9 in September to +2, taking it to the lowest level since November 1999.
Perceptions of the development of personal finances over the last twelve months fell by four points to -4.
Perceptions of the development of personal finances over the next twelve months fell by three points to +7.
Perceptions of the general economic situation in the country over the last twelve months increased by two points to -26, while perceptions of the general economic situation over the next twelve months fell by three points to -19.

The figures are based on the UK Consumer Confidence Survey, conducted amongst a sample of 2,038 individuals aged 16+ between 5th and 24th October 2005.

The companies are online at www.mori.com and www.gfknop.co.uk.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.