What does the public think on tax, spending and the budget deficit?

From MORI’s latest email newsletter rounding up some of their most recent poll findings:

Many believe that efficiencies, rather than cuts, can ‘rebalance the books’. Four in five (79%) agree that efficiencies can help cut government spending without damaging services, while around half (51%) are not persuaded that there is a need to cut spending on services to pay off the national debt. This suggests that many of the public are either not aware of, or not facing up to, ‘hard truths’, as espoused by many independent experts like Robert Chote of the IFS.

No public consensus exists on how best to reduce Government borrowing, with people divided between maintaining spending and increasing taxes (38%), cutting spending on public services (29%), and doing nothing (31%).

If cuts have to happen, three-quarters of the public would like to see some services protected (77%). Overseas aid and benefits are the most common candidates to be cut, while the vast majority think the NHS should be protected from cuts (82%); all of this will be very difficult for politicians.