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The Politics of Austerity: Modeling British Attitudes Towards Public Spending Cuts

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Advances in Political Economy

Abstract

The fallout from the 2008 financial crises has prompted acrimonious national debates in many Western democracies over the need for substantial budget cuts. Among economic and political elites there is broad agreement that substantial public sector budget cuts are necessary to address unsustainable sovereign debt and to establish long-term fiscal integrity. Many ordinary citizens see things differently, since austerity measures threaten programs that challenge longstanding public commitments to education, health and personal security that constitute the foundation of the modern welfare state. We investigate the nature of public attitudes towards the budget cuts using surveys from the British Election Study. The results suggest that cuts currently are widely perceived by the public as essential for Britain’s long-term economic health. But an upward trending view that slashing public services will cause serious difficulties for families may lead many people eventually to say enough is enough. It is likely that support for the cuts will be undermined by a lack of visible results in the real economy.

Are there no prisons?…And the union workhouses, are they still in operation?

Ebenezer Scrooge to Charity Collector, 1851

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The question format for the first three components of the dependent variable was as follows:

    Please indicate how far you agree or disagree with each of the following statements:

    • The Government’s cuts in public expenditure are essential for the long-term health of the UK economy.

    • The cuts in public expenditure that the Government proposes are likely to cause serious financial difficulties for me and my family.

    • Excessive public spending is the main cause of Britain’s debt.

    Respondents could choose between Strongly approve, Approve, Neither approve nor disapprove, Disapprove, Strongly disapprove or Don’t know.

    The fourth question stated:

    • Which of the following statements come closest to your view about the overall impact of the proposed public expenditure cuts?

      • The public expenditure cuts will strengthen Britain’s economic growth and international competitiveness.

      • The public expenditure cuts will damage Britain’s economy by pushing it further into recession.

      • Don’t know.

    The fifth question was worded thus:

    • Which of the following statements comes closest to your view?

      • The government should do less to provide publicly funded services and do more to encourage people to provide services for themselves.

      • Good public services can be provided only by the government.

      • Don’t know.

  2. 2.

    Respondents were asked to evaluate seven statement on five-point Likert scales:

    • The House of Commons should be reduced to 600 members.

    • The electoral system should be changed to proportional representation.

    • Local governments should have more authority.

    • The Monarchy should be abolished.

    • The Church of England should keep its status.

    • The United Kingdom needs more referendums to decide important issues.

    • MPs who vote against the party manifesto should resign and run again for their seats.

    The pre-wave question asked the respondents to designate which statement was more important:

    • That one party get more than half the vote so it can govern on its own.

    • That every party’s percentage of seats in Parliament is the same as their percentage of the vote.

    • Don’t know.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, PO Box 830688, Richardson, TX, 75083-0688, USA

    Harold D. Clarke & Marianne C. Stewart

  2. Department of Government, University of Essex, Colchester, C043SQ, UK

    Harold D. Clarke, David Sanders & Paul Whiteley

  3. Division of Liberal Arts and Life Sciences, University of North Texas-Dallas, 7300 University Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75241, USA

    Walter Borges

Authors
  1. Harold D. Clarke
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  2. Walter Borges
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  3. Marianne C. Stewart
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  4. David Sanders
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  5. Paul Whiteley
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Correspondence to Harold D. Clarke .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center in Political Economy, Washington University in St.Louis, Brookings Drive 1, Saint Louis, 63130, Missouri, USA

    Norman Schofield

  2. , Faculty of Economics, University of Vigo, Lagoas Marcosende, Vigo, 36310, Spain

    Gonzalo Caballero

  3. Centro de Estudios Avanzados, en Ciencias Sociales, Juan March Institute, Calle Castelló 77, Madrid, 28006, Spain

    Daniel Kselman

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Clarke, H.D., Borges, W., Stewart, M.C., Sanders, D., Whiteley, P. (2013). The Politics of Austerity: Modeling British Attitudes Towards Public Spending Cuts. In: Schofield, N., Caballero, G., Kselman, D. (eds) Advances in Political Economy. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35239-3_13

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