Labour seen as best party on health care but English split on private provision in the NHS
An Ipsos poll for the HSJ shows the Labour Party holds an 18 point lead over the Conservative Party as being seen as the party with the best policies on health care
Labour seen as best party on health care but English split on private provision in the NHS
An Ipsos poll for the Health Service Journal (HSJ) shows the Labour Party holds an 18 point lead over the Conservative Party as being seen as the party with the best policies on health care. 37% say Labour has the best policies, 19% say the Conservatives and 8% the Liberal Democrats.
Labour’s 18 point lead over the Conservatives is the largest Ipsos has recorded since February 2002. Although the gap is still far smaller than the 28 point lead immediately before the 2001 election and 32 point gap recorded a month before Labour’s 1997 landslide election victory.
Health care has always been a stronghold for Labour, and it has held a lead over the Conservatives as the party with the best policies on health care since MORI started measuring it in 1988. The biggest lead came in October 1995, when just 11% said the Conservatives had the best health care policies compared to 63% who said Labour, a lead of 52 points.
In August 2008, the Conservative Party had closed the gap to just three points, but in March 2010, two months before the General Election the gap had widened again to nine points.
Jonathan Nicholls, Head of Health Research at Ipsos said
“The Conservatives worked hard in opposition to make inroads into Labour’s stronghold of health policy. However, since being in government and overseeing the start of major reforms to the NHS, this has been reversed as Labour have once again extended their lead over the Conservatives among the public on having the best health policies.”
As the debate over NHS reforms continues, further polling for the HSJ shows the English public split on the contentious issue of private provision within the NHS. 44% agree and 41% disagree that “as long as health services are free of charge, it doesn’t matter to me whether they are provided by the NHS or a private company.”
Technical Details
Best Party on healthcare: Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,002 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone 25-27 February 2012. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.
Privatisation: Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 806 adults aged 18+ across England. Interviews were conducted face-to-face between 2nd and 8th December 2011. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.
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