Pounds in the pocket: What consumers want most from a new government

63% of British adults want to see lower energy bills
June 12, 2024

We’re in the thick of a Gen­er­al Elec­tion count­down, with new pledges and promis­es being made seem­ing­ly by the day.

The ele­phant, we com­mis­sioned a wide-rang­ing piece of con­sumer and busi­ness research last week, explor­ing what peo­ple want from a new gov­ern­ment. We asked a wide range of ques­tions span­ning a broad range of top­ics in order to get a feel for the mood of the nation.

One ques­tion looked not at the hoped for poli­cies of a new gov­ern­ment, but the impli­ca­tions of new poli­cies in terms of peo­ple feel­ing a lit­tle bit bet­ter off as a result.

Whilst low­er tax­es and low­er mort­gage pay­ments were front of mind for around one in five peo­ple, the two dom­i­nant areas were peo­ple want­ed to see progress were; low­er ener­gy bills (63%) and for the cost of the week­ly food shop to go down (55%). These issues were most strong­ly felt by old­er peo­ple over the ages of 55 and 65 respec­tive­ly. These find­ings under­line how chal­leng­ing the cost-of-liv­ing cri­sis has been – and how many peo­ple are still liv­ing with the impli­ca­tions in terms of the bills they pay and how they man­age their budgets.