Support on energy and food bills top budget priorities for consumers

Following weeks of open speculation on the focus and direction of this week’s Autumn Budget, we polled a representative sample of 2,000 adults with UK Omnibus Group last week, to get a flavour of the public mood.
November 21, 2025

In terms of a much hoped-for eco­nom­ic recov­ery, the research asked UK adults what out­comes from the Autumn Bud­get would be most wel­comed, in terms of mak­ing day-to-day life a lit­tle bit eas­i­er. The top three pub­lic respons­es includ­ed: low­er ener­gy bills (66%), a cheap­er week­ly food shop and (62%) and low­er tax­es (44%). Oth­er fac­tors men­tioned includ­ed; low­er mort­gage pay­ments, cheap­er pub­lic trans­port, help­ing peo­ple get on the prop­er­ty lad­der and steps to make it cheap­er to buy and run an elec­tric car.

Areas or sec­tors or the econ­o­my peo­ple thought might be most at risk if tax­es do go up includ­ed; small busi­ness­es across the UK, high street shops, pubs and restau­rants and UK farm­ers. The ele­phant research also explored areas of the econ­o­my that peo­ple felt need­ed fur­ther sup­port in order to sup­port eco­nom­ic growth in 2026.

Do drop us a line for more infor­ma­tion on our range of Autumn research projects.