Cost of living crisis top issue for voters in key election battleground seats

04 March 2024 , 00:01

1302     0

Cost of living crisis is the top issue in seats Labour need to win (Image: Getty Images)

The cost of living is the top issue in battleground seats key for a Labour victory at the next election, new analysis shows.

In 138 out of a list of Keir Starmer's possible 150 target seats - currently held by the Tories or the SNP - pressure on families' budgets is the main concern. In nine of the constituencies the NHS was ranked first while cost of living and the health services were tied in three remaining areas.

The analysis by the Stop the Squeeze comes as Jeremy Hunt faces pressure to help cash-strapped families at the Budget this week. The coalition of NGOs and unions has argued that parties offering bold solutions on the cost-of-living crisis are "likely to win at the polls".

But last month the Chancellor said the Government "won't be able to relieve pressure on families" until the Bank of England meets its 2% inflation target.

Megan Davies from Stop the Squeeze said: "This Budget is the last significant opportunity the Government has ahead of the general election to make a real difference to people's lives on the cost of living crisis. The cost of living may be slipping off the radar of politicians, but for the public this is clearly a cost of living election".

Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade

The analysis of Labour's target seats is based on polling from November 2023 by Survation for Lodestone Communications' Election Hub.

Today the Joseph Rowntree Foundation also warns the 2020s could also become a "second lost decade of living standards in a row". The anti-poverty charity's analysis claims that by 2029 working families could be £1,900 worse off on average in real terms than at the start of the decade.

Chief Economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Alfie Stirling said: "As an economy, as a society and as a country, we simply can’t afford this to happen. The organisation's own poll by YouGov also found the cost of essentials was ranked the number one concern by 64% of the public.

Ashley Cowburn