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

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.