Voters prefer what they’ve seen from Labour, poll finds

All of Labour’s main manifesto policies have more than 50% of support and voters prefer what they have seen overall from Labour over the Tories, a poll has found.

Ed Miliband manifesto launch

Polling done by YouGov for The Times found that although that the most popular policy from the two main parties can be found on the Tory pages (see what that is below) Labour’s most popular policy – their promise that they’ll reduce the deficit (with 76% of those asked in favour of it) – was only four points behind the Tories’. Meanwhile 71% are in support of Labour’s pledge to raise the minimum wage to more than £8 by October 2019 and 61% are in favour of the mansion tax.

The Tories’ plan to raise the tax allowance gets the largest proportion of support out of all the party policies – with 80% backing it. There was also significant backing for the party’s plans to freeze rail fares (67% supported this), reduction of the benefits cap (65%) and keeping GPs surgeries open every day of the week (64%). Their  pledge that they will have an EU referendum only garnered 49% of support.

However, there’s not such a groundswell of support for the rest of the party’s proposals: only 28% of people through their right-to-buy pledge is a good idea (only 12% thought this should be a priority)  and the same percentage thought the Conservative’s policy to create 500 new free schools was a positive move (and 5% thought it a priority). While 51% were in favour of ensuring £1million homes weren’t subject to inheritance tax only 12% thought it was the right priority for the party.

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