Deloitte / Government Delivery Index

Back to reality? Pessimism over the future of Britain's economy and public services after short election honeymoon

The latest Deloitte / MORI Delivery Index shows a new fall in optimism in the government's long term policies towards the economy and public services in September.

There has been a 180 degree flip from optimism to pessimism about the economy. Immediately after the election optimists outnumbered pessimists by 47% to 38% of the population. Now these figures are almost exactly reversed: 50% do not think the government's policies will improve the economy in the long term, compared to 39% who 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). While optimism towards the economy and public services had been rising steadily since 2003, these results mean that public expectations return to similar levels as those in the first half of 2004.

The public are also less optimistic about individual public services, in particular about health services and the environment. The most marked drop is with optimism towards the NHS. The proportion thinking the NHS will get better has fallen from more than one in three (37%) in May to around one in four (26%) now, while those who believe it will get worse has increased by a similar amount (from 28% to 37%). This means that public expectations of the NHS are now close to the worst recorded in the Deloitte / MORI Delivery Index, in September 2003. There has also been a large decline in expectations about the quality of the environment, with nearly half of the public (47%) believing it will get worse, compared with 38% thinking this just after the election.

Topline Results

• MORI interviewed 971 British adults 18+
• Fieldwork conducted by telephone between 16-18 September 2005
• Data weighted to the national population profile
• An '*' indicates a finding of less than 0.5%, but greater than zero
• Where percentages do not add up to exactly 100% this may be due to computer rounding, the exclusion of "don't knows" or to multiple answers

On balance do you agree or disagree that...

Q1 In the long term, this government's policies will improve the state of Britain's economy?

Q2 In the long term, this government's policies will improve the state of Britain's public services?

Q3-7 Thinking about... over the next few years do you expect it to ... ?