The Budget

IPC poll finds women are concerned about the implications of the recent budget.

The recent coalition government budget will leave women shouldering much of the brunt of spending cuts. Left facing a reduction in child benefit and child tax credits and the abolition of pregnancy/maternity grants it is not surprising that women are becoming more engaged with the state of the economy and political decision making. In a recent IPC Origin Panel poll, only 5% of women said they hadn't taken any notice of the government's budget. (this is down from last year, when 6% said they didn't notice.)

The poll found almost a quarter of women were worried about the impact of the budget on them, however the same amount (23%) were pleased with the measures saying they thought the budget cutting needed to be done. 17% actually went a stage further, actively welcoming the new leadership’s strategy, saying they were pleased the government were economising.

This is in stark contrast to a similar IPC poll conducted in April 2008 where apathy about the last government's ability to solve the economic crisis left 71% of women saying they didn't think Labour could fix it in April 2008.

Despite the belt tightening it looks like we have a way to go before we emerge from the crisis. A year ago, 83% of women said they were already cutting back on spending in some or all of their lives, so the new austerity budget may well make things even worse, with 20% women thinking it could send the country back into recession.

IPC’s Origin Panel is an interactive online community of 7,500 women. We maintain an ongoing dialogue with this nationally representative sample of women through polls, discussion forums and surveys, providing insight into their attitudes to everything from finance to food, motors to mothering.