With the UK Government’s spending review due to conclude in June 2025, Mitya Pearson and David Jeffery argue that while politicians and the public mostly agree on public spending priorities, politicians need to make the case to the public where they do not.
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Spending reviews are the process by which the UK Government determines public spending plans for departments. While the budget process sets the overall amount of money available for a government to spend, the spending review process determines how much of the overall budget is allocated to each department (such as health or education).
The next UK Government spending review is due to conclude soon, and this will set out plans for day-to-day spending up to 2028-29 and for capital spending up to 2029-30. This process takes place with the UK in a challenging fiscal position and government departments competing with each other for resources.
As part of a wider report, we used polling to test the attitudes of politicians and the public in Britain to questions around public spending. At the time we commissioned the research, we found that there is substantial alignment between the two groups on where money should be allocated, as well as some areas where they have different priorities such as defence, local government and pensions. We also found that politicians and the public diverge in their attitudes on levels of taxation, borrowing and spending.
While politicians should account for the public’s spending priorities in the spending review process, they should also have the courage to argue for areas that they consider important but the public is less keen on.
Politicians’ and the Public’s Views on Spending, Taxation and Borrowing
Our research involved commissioning a poll of around 100 Westminster MPs on a set of topical policy questions. The same questions were put to a sample of around 1800 local councillors in the UK. These surveys matched up with pre-existing polling of the UK public, allowing a direct comparison of the views of the British public with the views of the politicians tasked with representing them.
MPs are keener on boosting defence spending and spending on local government than the public.
Three of the questions tested attitudes to spending, taxation and borrowing, and are presented in the figures below.
Figure 1 compares politicians’ and the public’s attitudes to public spending priorities, using a question which asked them to select three areas to prioritise for spending increases. What is most notable are the similar responses among MPs, councillors and the public in lots of areas, for example all place a high priority on the NHS, education and crime while all place a low priority on welfare and overseas aid. However, there are some interesting differences between them too. For example, MPs are keener on boosting defence spending and spending on local government than the public.
Figure 1 – Cllr, MP and Public Views on Allocation of Government Spending
Sources: MP and Councillor Data – See Data on the Public – YouGov, “What sector should the UK government spend more on?”, 25 November 2024, (Accessed March 2025).
Figure 2 presents results from a different question asking about levels of taxation and spending. Here, we see some notable differences between politicians and the public, with the public more inclined than MPs or councillors to endorse the idea that both taxation and spending levels are too high, and less inclined than MPs or councillors to support the view that taxation and spending are too low.
Figure 2 – Cllr, MP and Public Views on Taxation and Government Spending Levels
Sources: MP and Councillor Data – See Report; Data on the Public – YouGov, “Are we taxing and spending the right amount?”, 23 December 2024, (Accessed March 2025).
Figure 3 presents data (this time only for MPs and the public) on responses to a question on the idea of increased government borrowing to fund investment spending specifically – one of Rachel Reeves’ early moves as chancellor was to tweak the UK’s fiscal rules to incentivise such activity. The polling here reveals the public to be much more wary of this notion than MPs.
Figure 3 – Cllr, MP and Public Views on Borrowing for Investment Spending
Sources: MP Data – See Report; Data on the Public – Savanta, ‘Budget poll – Savanta – 26 October 2024’, https://savanta.com/knowledge-centre/press-and-polls/budget-poll-savanta-26-october-2024/ (Accessed March 2025).
The 2025 Spending Review
So what does all this mean for the UK’s upcoming spending review?
The good news for Rachel Reeves, and the other ministers involved in delivering the spending review, is that the UK’s current crop of MPs are actually fairly aligned on where to allocate public spending. The spending review would be more challenging if politicians and the public had diametrically opposed views in this area.
It is clearly worthwhile for politicians to bear in mind public attitudes when making spending decisions – and such thinking seems to have influenced recent cuts in welfare and overseas aid budgets.
The UK’s current crop of MPs are actually fairly aligned on where to allocate public spending.
However, it would be unwise for spending allocations to be completely determined by public opinion polling. Not only would this likely lead to bad policy decisions but it is also ultimately likely to be counter-productive in terms of courting voters.
As Sam Freedman argues in Failed State: “Despite a huge increase in time and resources put towards communications, politicians of all parties are less trusted than ever before.” Making policy decisions to chase popularity can sometimes end up pleasing no one.
Therefore where MPs feel something is important to spend money on, but the public are less enthusiastic – for example, local government and defence spending, according to our data – politicians should have the bravery to make the case for it.
All articles posted on this blog give the views of the author(s), and not the position of LSE British Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Image credit: Livvy2020 on Shutterstock
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