George Osborne has been challenged to win around British workers in his Budget as a new poll found how financially battered they have been over recent years and that more of them are planning to vote Labour than Tory.
Nearly half of those in full or part-time work (44%) plan to vote Labour at the next election, while only 27% of them plan to vote Conservative and 15% of them tempted to vote Ukip, a survey of 1,000 UK adults by Survation found.
Survation chief executive Damian Lyons Lowe said: "There is a clear compelling political incentive for the Conservatives to win over the votes of working people. George Osborne needs to pay close attention to attitudes of workers if this week's budget is to have any effect on closing this gap."
Other revelations include the finding that most (73%) of workers have seen their wages fall as the cost of living crisis bit, while only 4% said they enjoyed rising wages. Nearly half (42%) of part-time workers said they would prefer to work full-time, showing the persistent problem of underemployment.
Less than half (40%) of workers believe the UK economy is recovering, with the same proportion worried that they may lose their job. Workers are nearly five times as likely to pick job security as a priority for political action, even at the expense of increasing GDP, rather than prioritizing growth.
The findings of the Survation poll will be presented and discussed in detail at the Unions21 conference on 21st March 2014 in Manchester.