British public say roads and public buildings are priorities for infrastructure investment

• Majority think Conservatives have done a bad job maintaining Britain’s infrastructure
• But local councils and those in charge at the time blamed more for school closures due to concrete concerns than the current government

New polling of British adults from Ipsos, conducted on September 5th this year, explores public attitudes to Britain’s infrastructure in general and who is considered to blame for recent school closures due to RAAC concerns.

When asked which aspects of Britain’s infrastructure are most in need of improvement, the most common responses are roads (54%) and public buildings such as schools, hospitals and court houses (53%). Housing is prioritised by 44% and water supply / sewage by 43%.

Overall, 56% of Britons think the current Conservative government has done a bad job maintaining Britain’s infrastructure, with just 15% saying they’ve done a good job. 36% think Labour would do a better job but 37% say a Labour government would make no difference and one in five (20%) say they would do worse.

When asked who is to blame for recent school closures due to concerns about RAAC the public are most likely to blame those in charge when the schools were built. 75% say they are to blame ‘a great deal’ or ‘a fair amount’, with 44% saying they shoulder ‘a great deal’ of blame. 71% blame local councils at least ‘a fair amount’ and two-thirds blame previous Conservative governments since 2010. The current Conservative government led by Rishi Sunak is seen as holding ‘a great deal’ or ‘fair amount’ of blame by 57% but this figure is similar to the number that hold past Labour governments responsible (56%).

Keiran Pedley, Director of Politics at Ipsos, UK, said of the findings:

When asked about Britain’s infrastructure the public tend to think about roads, public buildings, housing and water / sewage. This likely reflects recent headlines around school closures and sewage but also long-term perceptions about the importance of roads and housing. There isn’t much confidence investment is coming though. A majority think  the Conservatives have done a bad job maintaining Britain’s infrastructure but only around a third think Labour would do a better job. However, there are some more positive numbers here for Rishi Sunak. His government is not held as responsible for recent school closures as local councils or those in charge when the schools were built.

Technical note

Ipsos interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,000 adults aged 18-75 in Great Britain. Interviews took place on the online Omnibus September 5th 2023. Data has been weighted to the known offline population proportions. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of errors.