Public prioritises cutting energy bills and NHS waiting times, but lacks confidence in Labour's ability to deliver

New Ipsos polling about the milestones and priorities set out by the government reveals that the British public's top priorities are reducing energy bills and cutting NHS waiting times, as well as delivering economic stability, and raising living standards. However, there is a significant lack of confidence in the Labour government's ability to achieve the milestones and priorities they have set out by the next election.

Reducing energy bills and cutting waiting times

• When asked what targets the government has set itself are most important to them, cutting energy bills and boosting home energy security by setting up Great British Energy (62%) and cutting NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments each week (59%) rank as the top priorities for the public, followed by delivering economic stability (52%), elective care wait times (52%) and raising living standards (51%).
• There is some variation according to party affiliation, with Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat 2024 voters prioritising NHS waiting times, energy bills, and economic stability, while Reform voters, (and to some extent Conservative ones) prioritise reforms to cut small boat crossings and reducing net migration.

Government performance

• Britons are broadly negative about the government’s progress on its milestones and priorities thus far. Disapproval is highest on cutting energy bills (61% bad job) raising living standards (58% bad job), delivering economic stability (54% bad job), and reducing the number of small boat crossings (52% bad job). The only milestone with a positive net approval rating is strengthening Britons armed forces, where the public is split – one in three (33%) think that the government is doing a good job, while 31% say it is doing a bad job (net +2%).

• While Labour voters are broadly more optimistic about the government's performance, even they express significant concern over progress on reducing energy bills (net -18%) and raising living standards (net -13%). 
• Reform UK voters are particularly critical of the government, especially on issues like reducing small boat crossings (-85%), reducing net migration (net -79%), and delivering economic stability (net -78%).

• This pessimism extends to the likelihood of the government achieving its stated targets over the course of this Parliament, with especially low confidence expressed in areas like cutting energy bills (24% likely vs. 59% unlikely), raising living standards (21% likely vs. 59% unlikely), reducing net migration (21% likely vs. 57% unlikely) , and improving the asylum system (23% likely vs 57% unlikely).

Commenting on the findings, Gideon Skinner, Senior Director of UK Politics at Ipsos, said:

Our new polling shows a clear disconnect between the public's priorities and their confidence in the Labour government's ability to deliver on them. While Labour has identified many of the public’s concerns in its list of milestones and targets, with cutting NHS waiting times and energy bills paramount for Britons, there is a distinct lack of optimism that these issues will be effectively addressed by the next election. The significant gap between public expectation and perceived government delivery presents a significant challenge for Labour. While there is a long way to go till the next election, unless Labour can demonstrate tangible progress on these key issues they risk alienating voters who wanted to see a change.

Technical note: 

• Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,099 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Polling was conducted online between the 28th February-3rd March 2025.  
• Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.