The Ipsos MORI Delivery Index

11 December 2007

Ipsos MORI's fourth quarter Delivery Index (carried out by telephone 23-26 Nov 2007) shows that public trust in the Government is on the decline. Over half of the public do not trust the Government to act in Britain's interests (53%), while two in five (40%) do trust the Government on this. This represents a 16 point fall in net trust of the Government since September this year (when 46% agreed that they trust the Government to act in the national interest and 43% disagreed).

More than two-thirds of the public do not trust the Government to tell the truth (69%), with just one in five (21%) agreeing that they trust them to tell the truth. Similarly, there has been a nine percentage point drop since September in trust of the Government to tell the truth.

This finding comes in the wake of a series of scandals for the Government, which include mis-reported immigration figures, the loss of two discs containing personal financial information of members of the public, and controversy over their handling of the difficulties facing Northern Rock.

Confidence in the Government's future handling of the economy has also been in decline since September. Just over one in three agree that the Government's policies will improve the state of Britain's economy (36%), while half disagree (50%). This represents a seven point decline in net confidence over the quarter. Again, this is likely to reflect recent concerns over the Government's handling of Northern Rock, as well as some recent pessimistic forecasts regarding the future of the housing market and of the economy more generally.

Feelings of influence over Government policy and public service delivery have remained static since September. Four in five, 79%, do not feel they have influence over the Government's policies (with just 13% agreeing that they do have influence over these) and 70% disagree that they have influence over how public services are delivered (and 18% agree).

There is more encouraging news for the Government with their handling of the public services. Expectations of the NHS continue to improve after undergoing a steep decline since the last General Election. While pessimists still outnumber optimists (by 39% to 23%), net optimism is 11 percentage points higher than one year ago.

Education continues to be the Government's flagship, with optimists clearly outnumbering pessimists (by 31% to 23%). The public are evenly split on the future of public transport and opportunities for young people continue to be a concern for many, with one in three (34%) expecting this to get worse over the next few years and just a quarter expect them to get better (26%).

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Topline Results:

• Ipsos MORI interviewed 964 British adults 18+
• Fieldwork conducted by telephone between 23-26 November 2007
• Data weighted to the national population profile
• An '*' indicates a finding of less than 0.5%, but greater than zero
• Where percentages do not add up to exactly 100% this may be due to computer rounding, the exclusion of "don't knows" or to multiple answers

On balance, do you agree or disagree that with the statements that …

 Q1 In the long term, this government's policies will improve the state of Britain's economy?

Q2 In the long term, this government's policies will improve the state of Britain's public services?

Q3-6 Thinking about … over the next few years do you expect it to … ?

Q7-10 On balance, do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?