Tories open up 13-point poll lead over Labour as voters back ‘fair’ Budget

BORIS Johnson has got a huge poll bounce this week – despite the Budget announcing tax rises in the coming years.

A survey by YouGov found that the Tories had established a whopping 13-point lead over Labour.

And the Budget – which was delivered by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Wednesday – was found to be the most popular in a decade, with 55 per cent of people describing it as “fair”.

A huge 48 per cent think the Government are managing the economy well, compared to 39% who say they are handling it badly.

Nearly three in four Brits backed the coporation tax hike for larger businesses.

Even the less popular policies like freezing alcohol duty and guaranteeing 95 per cent mortgages were approved by more than half of people.

The increase in Corporation Tax for larger businesses was supported by 72% of people. Even the least popular of the measures we asked about (freezing alcohol duties and guaranteeing 95% mortgages) were approved of by over half of respondents.

The Tories were on 45 per cent, up four percentage points from the last poll, with Labour down the same amount to 32 per cent.

It comes despite the IFS saying the Chancellor will put in place the highest tax burden seen since the 1960s.

Income tax bands will be frozen from April, which will force a million people into paying more tax than before.

Five million people – or one in six taxpayers – will be in the higher band by 2026.

Paul Johnson, head of the IFS, said yesterday: “The increases in the income tax personal allowance over the 2010s were key to ensuring the remarkable outcome that, during a period of severe austerity, Middle England did not lose.

“They will be the ones hit by freezing it over the next few years. This is a very big change in the structure of income tax.

“The basic rate may have fallen but a lot of people are paying higher rates of income tax.”

He also said the Budget saw Rishi Sunak go from Santa to Scrooge as he had to turn off the spending taps in future years.

The polls also showed that two thirds of those think the economy is in a bad state – and half of them think it’s going to get worse before things get better.

Nearly a third are optimistic about the economic picture in the next year.

The latest polling is bad news for Sir Keir Starmer, as Labour fail to make a permanent break through.

One Labour figure told The Times it was looking “grim” for him and things aren’t expected to get better over the summer as the nation gets back to normal and the vaccine rollout continues.

The grandee added: “Keir hasn’t got it. Not even close to having it.”

Another Labour source said: “The government is going to get a vaccine bounce. And once we’re all having beers in the sun it will become a summer bounce. We might end up hosting all of the Euros. That’s not great for Keir.”

It was Labour’s lowest vote share from YouGov since he became leader last April.

He enjoyed a poll bounce for the party after taking over from Jeremy Corbyn last year, but has failed to make significant inroads since then.

Anthony Wells, the director of political research at YouGov added: “The Tories are enjoying a boost from the vaccine rollout and a well-received budget.

“With the lockdown being eased in coming weeks . . . it sets the foundations for strong local election results in May.”