Poll: Enduring pessimism on economic prospects
By Peter Wozniak
Nearly 60% of people in the UK expect bad economic times ahead, according to a survey of attitudes in 22 countries.
The survey, by Globescan for the BBC World Service, showed that pessimism over the global economy continues to endure, despite encouraging growth predictions.
There has been little change in attitude since the previous year, when the UK was in recession.
The growth in the UK economy was however better than expected with a 1.2% increase in GDP in the second quarter of 2010, according the Office of National Statistics.
By and large, the poll’s respondents favoured spending cuts over increased taxation, though there was also some appetite for stronger government intervention and regulation of the economy.
The survey paints a mixed picture of attitudes on economic issues, with people agreeing with the need to reduce the deficit, and more favouring spending cuts than tax rises, but little optimism for future growth and recovery.
The encouraging growth figures and yesterday’s IMF report backing the aggressive programme of deficit reduction to encourage long-term recovery will be used by the government as signals that the economic strategy is on the right track.
Attitudes to spending cuts could change dramatically for the worse once the reductions cease to be abstract and become a political reality on October 20th, with the release of the comprehensive spending review.
