Verdicts · Economy
What the UK thinks about the economy
Settled referendums
68
since Jun 2026
Votes cast
10,870
all time, on the economy
This week
2,662
votes · 5 referendums settled
Written opinions
353
all time, left by voters
This week's opinion highlightThe most respected opinion this week
“For too long figures on the right have talked Britain down and undermined our credibility. We can be honest about our problems and our mistakes without it.”
JamesHutchcraft, debating Yes on “Is shifting from the 'Broken Britain' narrative essential to increase UK R&D investment?” · read the thread →
6
Respects
Most respected on economy this week
- 1.HardCompact12 respects
- 2.BenL11 respects
- 3.HonestCompass6510 respects
- 4.JamesHutchcraft9 respects
- 5.Slawomir9 respects
Who answered this week
The 687 placed voters lean Centre Right overall.
H. Left6%
Left20%
C. Left7%
Centre6%
C. Right11%
Right41%
H. Right8%
Regions this week
South EastC. Right
ScotlandCentre
LondonCentre
South WestC. Right
North WestC. Right
YorkshireC. Right
East of EnglandC. Right
North EastC. Right
West MidlandsC. Right
East MidlandsCentre
Northern IrelandRight
WalesC. Right
Votes each week
2,662so far this week
63827 Jul
7933 Aug
1,23710 Aug
1,57717 Aug
85524 Aug
2,66231 Aug
All-time economy highlights
Biggest landslide
NO 94%
Is the "Cost of Living Crisis" over?
94% of 200 votes went the same way.
Closest result
NO 50%
Should the UK change GDP growth as the main economic target in favour of a no-growth model focused on wellbeing and sust?
Decided by 1 vote.
Most debated
NO 58%
Was Burnham correct in blaming Brexit for low growth?
37 written opinions.
This week
5 settled · 2,662 votes
0% NO
Majority against
YES 42%
580 votes
0 skipped
by @refnation⏱ Ended 2 Sept 2026
Was Burnham correct in blaming Brexit for low growth?
The verdict
“Do not hang the decade on a door nobody fully walked through” became the room’s governing instinct: No rejected Burnham’s blame, even as several voters conceded Brexit had contributed.
0% NO
Majority against
YES 47%
575 votes
0 skipped
by @CivilMarker66⏱ Ended 2 Sept 2026
Should there be a 2% tax on individual wealth over £10 million?
The verdict
“Working people pay tax on every penny earned” captured the Yes case, but No edged the vote: fairness met fears about capital flight, enforcement and growth.
0% YES
Majority for
NO 35%
559 votes
0 skipped
by @Jskinnider⏱ Ended 2 Sept 2026
Is shifting from the 'Broken Britain' narrative essential to increase UK R&D investment?
The verdict
“Change the conditions” was the chamber’s sharpest warning, but Yes won by two to one, with voters choosing a new national story even as the strongest objections rejected narrative politics.
0% NO
Majority against
YES 31%
465 votes
0 skipped
by @Spargrass⏱ Ended 1 Sept 2026
Should the Bank of England allow the pound to depreciate?
The verdict
The pound was defended as something to leave alone: No won by more than two votes to one, while every posted argument came from its side. “A floating pound is not a lever for slogans.”
0% YES
Majority for
NO 31%
483 votes
0 skipped
by @moley⏱ Ended 1 Sept 2026
Are we heading for techno-feudalism?
The verdict
“Headed? We are are.” captured the room’s impatience: the vote delivered a decisive Yes, with warnings about rents, data and digital gates carrying more weight than grand prophecy.
Last week
2 settled · 855 votes
0% NO
Majority against
YES 17%
415 votes
0 skipped
by @atc1249⏱ Ended 29 Aug 2026
Has supply-side economic policy improved living standards for all income groups in the UK?
The verdict
“Nothing trickles down,” ran the room’s most emphatic refrain as No carried the vote by nearly five to one. More striking still, every argument posted came from the losing side’s opponent.
0% NO
Majority against
YES 44%
440 votes
0 skipped
by @Cameron1145⏱ Ended 28 Aug 2026
Should income tax on overtime over 40 hours a week be removed for all workers?
The verdict
The sharpest line came from the losing side: “Scrapping tax on overtime rewards overwork” — a sign that this was a debate about burnout and employer power, not just the tax bill.
Every economy verdict
- NO 58%Was Burnham correct in blaming Brexit for low growth?“Do not hang the decade on a door nobody fully walked through” became the room’s governing instinct: No rejected Burnham’s blame, even as several voters conceded Brexit had contributed.
- NO 53%Should there be a 2% tax on individual wealth over £10 million?“Working people pay tax on every penny earned” captured the Yes case, but No edged the vote: fairness met fears about capital flight, enforcement and growth.
- YES 65%Is shifting from the 'Broken Britain' narrative essential to increase UK R&D investment?“Change the conditions” was the chamber’s sharpest warning, but Yes won by two to one, with voters choosing a new national story even as the strongest objections rejected narrative politics.
- NO 69%Should the Bank of England allow the pound to depreciate?The pound was defended as something to leave alone: No won by more than two votes to one, while every posted argument came from its side. “A floating pound is not a lever for slogans.”
- YES 69%Are we heading for techno-feudalism?“Headed? We are are.” captured the room’s impatience: the vote delivered a decisive Yes, with warnings about rents, data and digital gates carrying more weight than grand prophecy.
- NO 83%Has supply-side economic policy improved living standards for all income groups in the UK?“Nothing trickles down,” ran the room’s most emphatic refrain as No carried the vote by nearly five to one. More striking still, every argument posted came from the losing side’s opponent.
- NO 56%Should income tax on overtime over 40 hours a week be removed for all workers?The sharpest line came from the losing side: “Scrapping tax on overtime rewards overwork” — a sign that this was a debate about burnout and employer power, not just the tax bill.
- YES 54%Should high street banks lose the power to create new money when they lend?“The question makes banking sound sinister” was the room’s sharpest line, even as voters narrowly backed stripping banks of the power to create money through lending.
- YES 73%Is the UK tax system complicated by design rather than by accident?“Sheep shouldn't realise how much they are fleeced” was the room’s sharpest summary: the chamber sided decisively with the claim that tax complexity is deliberate.
- YES 83%Should the UK reindustrialise at pace?Factories, energy and national resilience carried the room: Yes won decisively, but the strongest voices backed a careful reindustrialisation rather than a dash for its own sake.
- YES 59%Should overall alcohol tax rise on off-licenses while being cut for pubs?The pub won the tax argument, though the chamber’s sharpest objection said, “It's not tax that's the problem.”
- NO 54%With unsustainable national debts and fiat currency under stress, should the world return to the gold standard?“Gold is the one constant for now” was the Yes side’s cleanest slogan, but the debate ended with voters choosing monetary restraint over its romance.
- NO 72%Should unused pensions be included in estates for inheritance tax from April 2027?“Target abuse of the system, not those who saved prudently” captured the chamber’s mood as No won by more than two to one: this was a vote against treating pension saving as an inheritance-tax loophole.
- YES 54%Have consecutive UK governments harmed SMEs on purpose?“There may be no direct evidence, but there are circumstantial ones”: that was the room’s sharpest instinct as Yes won by eight points, treating accumulated harm as evidence of intent.
- NO 67%Should UK banks be required to ease restrictions on cryptocurrency firms?Crypto firms found no banking welcome in this room: No carried the vote by two to one, while the winning case rested on claims that crypto “props up illegal trade” and involves “to many dodgy characters”.
- YES 76%Is the UK a mixed economy rather than pure capitalism?The room called the UK mixed, but its Yes case sounded less like a defence of balance than a complaint about dependence: “Sad but true imho.”
- NO 52%Should the UK replace stamp duty, business rates and council tax with a land value tax?A near-dead heat ended with No on top, while “It's not a strategic priority” captured the winning side’s suspicion of reform for reform’s sake.
- NO 94%Is the "Cost of Living Crisis" over?“Whilst families are still struggling to pay bills” was the room’s governing thought: No won decisively, with its strongest arguments looking past falling inflation to wages, rents and bills.
- YES 57%Should the government increase taxes on banks?A majority backed higher bank taxes, but the room’s sharpest refrain was a warning from the losing side: “Banks would just pass the charge on to us.”
- YES 78%Does the UK's £3 trillion national debt threaten future generations?“Forever in debt” was the room’s sharpest refrain: the platform backed the warning that £3 trillion threatens future generations, with no No argument posted to answer it.
Show all 68 verdicts ↓
- YES 64%Should the UK cut welfare and foreign aid to address its national debt?The striking result is not only that Yes won clearly, but that the winning case was the only case the chamber chose to put on the page: six Yes voices, no No argument, and a verdict of 98 votes to 55.
- YES 56%Should the UK budget deficit be forbidden, except cases of unseen, national catastrophe?A narrow Yes verdict was powered less by legal theory than by the blunt promise that “Servicing the debt costs billions” that could otherwise cut taxes for workers.
- YES 57%Would giving regional mayors a share of income tax strengthen local economies?Fiscal devolution carried the day, with three in five voters backing a income tax share for metro mayors, yet the page tells an odd story: every single opinion left behind came from the side that lost, and its case was less about economics than about trust.
- YES 78%Should business rates rise on warehouses and fall for high street shops?Four to one, the chamber backed shifting the tax burden from shopfronts to sheds, siding decisively with the logic behind Andy Burnham's proposal even as the warehousing and retail lobbies warned the cost would simply travel back down the supply chain to the same high streets it was meant to save.
- YES 57%Should it be a legal requirement for Government to balance the books rather than borrowing in order to give money away?A clear if not overwhelming majority backed fiscal discipline by law, with the chamber's most respected voice reaching straight for the household budget: borrowing too much "leads inexorably to bankruptcy" — a comparison economists dispute but voters here found decisive by 14 points.
- NO 63%Should UK pension funds invest more in early-stage venture capital?Pension savers here were unconvinced that their retirement pots should chase the next unicorn, with the No side winning by two to one on a page where Yes voters offered no defence of the idea at all.
- NO 52%Should Capital Gains Tax rates be equalised with Income Tax rates?This was as close to a coin toss as a self-selected chamber gets — a four-point margin from 127 voters, with No's win resting on a case the floor barely bothered to elaborate.
- YES 52%Is appointing John Healey as Chancellor the right move for the British economy?A four-point margin from 104 votes is a coin toss dressed up as a verdict, and the chamber's own arguments barely rose above a shrug — the most-respected case for Healey came wrapped in more caveats than conviction.
- NO 60%Should the UK scrap its digital services tax to avoid US tariffs?Three in five voters here refused to trade away a tax on big tech for the promise of American goodwill, holding by a two-to-one margin that the digital services tax should stay even as Washington dangles further tariffs over it.
- YES 59%Should the government scrap the agricultural inheritance tax changes?A narrow but clear majority backed scrapping the farm inheritance tax changes, with 16 of 27 voters siding against the policy Andy Burnham's government inherited — though none left a word to explain why.
- YES 60%Should the UK renegotiate its US trade deal to match the EU's new 10% tariff rate across all sectors?A narrow six-to-four verdict, from just ten voters, that the UK should chase parity with Brussels on tariffs — a result too small to call a mood but pointed enough to note where the grievance sits: not the whisky exemption, but the sectors left exposed.
- NO 50%Should the UK change GDP growth as the main economic target in favour of a no-growth model focused on wellbeing and sust?A single vote settled it: on whether to junk GDP for a wellbeing-and-sufficiency model, the chamber effectively tied itself in knots, 52 to 53, a verdict as close to a shrug as a referendum can produce.
- NO 53%Should the UK pursue full nationalisation of utilities funded solely by consolidating private pension funds?The finance came narrower than the philosophy: a chamber broadly sympathetic to public ownership still balked, by a slim margin, at the specific mechanism of raiding pension pots to pay for it, with No edging it on 112 votes.
- YES 69%Should the UK government implement the Makers' Manifesto to strengthen manufacturing?Manufacturing policy rarely produces consensus across a chamber this broad, yet here the verdict was emphatic: voters backed the Makers' Manifesto by better than two to one, with support holding firm across every age band from apprentices to pensioners.
- YES 58%Is Burnham's rejection of Thatcher-era policies the right direction for Britain?A rerun of Britain's oldest economic argument split the chamber without falling along any predictable line — Burnham's break with Thatcherism carried the day, 37 votes to 27, but the coalition behind it scrambled the usual generational script.
- YES 56%Is it time for a wealth tax on millionaires?The young wanted it almost outright, the middle-aged pushed back hardest, and what emerged from that tug-of-war was a narrow chamber verdict for Yes, 74 votes to 59, on taxing extreme fortunes to fund public services.
- YES 69%Should the UK pursue growth in every postcode through greater local community power?Devolving power to chase growth in every postcode carried comfortably, with the chamber backing Burnham's local-power pitch two to one — though the enthusiasm was far from evenly spread, with women unpersuaded even as men swung firmly behind it.
- YES 62%Is the increasing inability to build wealth pushing people closer to socialism?Nearly two-thirds of those who voted here read the wealth squeeze as a socialist pipeline, but the sharpest thing about the yes vote is that it was strongest among the under-45s who actually face the housing arithmetic, and thinnest among their elders who mostly cleared it decades ago.
- YES 65%Does the UK tax system favour wealth over work?A chamber that skews young and asset-poor looked at Britain's tax code and concluded, two to one, that it tilts toward wealth over wages — a verdict that says less about the arithmetic of capital gains rates than about who feels squeezed by it.
- YES 53%Should the government further ease steel import tariffs and quotas to protect construction projects?A narrow verdict for looser tariffs was really a generational one, with the chamber's youngest voters overwhelmingly keen to ease steel duties for builders while its older cohorts, closer perhaps to memories of British Steel's decline, held firm against it.
- YES 60%Should the UK tax wealth not work for assets over 10 million in value and reduce tax on income?Shifting the tax burden from work to wealth found a comfortable majority here, with three in five backing a levy on fortunes above £10 million and a lighter tax on income — though the 55-64s, the cohort closest to retirement and often sitting on accumulated property or pension wealth, were the one group to recoil from it.
- YES 87%Should the UK have nationalised British Steel from its Chinese owners?When the last blast furnaces making virgin steel in Britain looked set to go cold, this chamber reached for the state without much hesitation, backing the Scunthorpe takeover by better than six to one and leaving Jingye's compensation complaint largely unmourned.
- YES 64%Should the threshold increase for the higher rate of income tax?Fiscal drag has quietly reclassified a fifth of taxpayers as "higher rate" without a single budget vote raising the rate itself, and the chamber's answer — a clear two-to-one call to lift the £50,270 threshold — reads less like a tax cut demand than a complaint about stealth.
- YES 83%Should the British people have control over their own public utilities?Five to one is not a debate, it is a verdict: on public utilities the chamber sided emphatically with public control, 159 votes to 33, a margin that crosses every generation on the platform.
- YES 61%Did Margaret Thatcher's reforms unduly impact the nation outside of the south east?Four decades on, the chamber's verdict split almost exactly along the fault line the question itself describes, with three in five voters here judging that Thatcherism unduly punished Britain outside the south east, even as the very cohort who lived through the pit closures firsthand proved the most divided of all.
- YES 52%If an AI data centre opened near you, would you support it for the jobs and economic reasons?A near dead-heat nationally conceals the real split: this was the young against everyone else, with the under-25s alone recoiling from data centres while every other generation, up to the eldest voters, leaned narrowly in favour.
- YES 89%Should the UK sign trade deals to open markets for British beef, lamb and dairy farmers?Nearly nine in ten voters here backed opening new markets for British beef, lamb and dairy, with the only real dissent clustered oddly among the 35-44s rather than falling along any obvious ideological line.
- YES 60%Is a trillion too much wealth for one man?The most striking wrinkle is a generational dip in the middle: this chamber decided a trillion is indeed too much for one man by three to two, yet the 35-44s alone bucked the trend, siding decisively with Musk's fortune while their elders and juniors did not.
- YES 80%Should the government remove policy costs from business electricity bills to boost economic growth?When even the CBI's usual sparring partners agree, you get a rout: voters here backed stripping policy costs from business energy bills four to one, a rare cross-generational consensus on where growth is supposed to come from.
- NO 87%Should you own nothing and be happy?The rare vote where Britain's fault lines simply refused to show up: no age split, no gender split, just a near-unanimous rejection of the WEF's rent-everything future, as No swept to a 74-point margin.
- YES 52%Should the UK introduce a 2% annual tax on personal wealth over £10 million?A wealth tax squeaked home by a margin thinner than a rounding error, but the real story is a U-shaped generational split with the 35-44s standing almost alone against it.
- YES 53%Should the government force UK pension funds to invest more in British companies?A near dead-heat nationally masks a striking generational split: the youngest voters overwhelmingly rejected state-mandated pension investment, while those approaching retirement backed it almost unanimously.
- YES 60%Should HMRC increase enforcement to close the £17.3bn small company corporation tax gap?A clear enough win for tougher HMRC enforcement conceals a striking generational U-turn: it was the youngest and oldest voters who backed the crackdown hardest, while the middle of working life — those actually running or dealing with small companies — split down the middle.
- YES 53%Should the government reinstate a higher bank surcharge to raise public revenue?A near dead-heat on bank taxes split cleanly by age: the young voted almost unanimously to squeeze the banks, older voters dug in against it, and the whole result turned on that generational gap.
- YES 77%Has Utilities privatisation failed?Nearly forty years after Margaret Thatcher sold off the pipes and wires, the verdict lands with unusual unity: privatisation has failed, said better than three in four voters, with barely a flicker of the age divide that usually splits these debates.
- YES 56%Does the UKs financial sector have too much control over the British economy?A rare consensus crossed generations and genders alike, with every age band from twentysomethings to pensioners landing within a few points of each other on the City's outsized grip over Britain, YES prevailing 62-49.
- YES 75%Did Margaret Thatcher's reforms unduly impact the nation outside of the south east?Yes carried the chamber by 50 points, but the age data tells a stranger story than a simple verdict on Thatcherism: the 25-34s were unanimous, the 55-64s — old enough to remember the pit closures firsthand — were the only age group to say no.
- YES 58%Should the Bank of England stop counting banks' gilt holdings towards the leverage ratio?A narrow-ish national win for looser gilt rules masks a sharp generational split: under-45s backed the tweak by wide margins, over-45s turned against it almost as decisively.
- NO 62%Do you agree on Burnham's 10-year plan?No won 35-21, but the real story is the gender canyon beneath it: 46% of men backed Burnham's plan against not a single one of the seven women who voted.
- NO 66%Is it too late to reindustrialise the UK?No" carried the day by 32 points, with 38 of 58 voters here saying it is too late to reindustrialise Britain, and scepticism ran deepest among the 35-44s, the cohort most likely to have watched factories close on their own watch.
- YES 57%Does wealth concentration among billionaires undermine democratic control of society?Yes carried the chamber 57-43, a narrow win built mainly on the 25-34s, who broke decisively for the motion while the 35-44 bracket alone pushed back against it.
- YES 67%Should the government prioritise British-made cement in public construction projects?Yes carried the chamber 67-33, but the real split ran along gender lines rather than age: men backed British cement by 78% while women were essentially tied, 12-13.
- YES 55%Is it wrong for CEOs and business owners to make hundreds of times more annually than their workers?Yes carried the day, 27 to 22, but the closest thing to a consensus came from the 25-34 bracket, which broke 64% yes on the platform's largest single group of voters.
- YES 73%Do the richest people in the UK have more than their fair share of the wealth?Yes carried the chamber comfortably, 73 to 27, with the only pocket of real resistance among 35-44s, who were the sole age group to lean No.
- NO 51%Should Andy Burnham adopt radical cost-of-living policies if he becomes prime minister?A near dead heat, with No edging it 18-17 out of 35 — the platform essentially split down the middle on whether Burnham should go populist on the cost of living, though women broke more sceptical (33% yes) than men (47%).
- NO 63%Do you agree on a 22% tax on cash and ISA?No won comfortably, 38-22, as voters rejected the plan to tax interest on cash held in ISAs. The clearest divide was gender, not age: men split fairly evenly (44% yes) while women rejected it three-to-one (25% yes).
- YES 56%Should Andy Burnham give more powers to local government to spread economic growth?A narrow 56-44 win for devolving power to Burnham's town halls, but the headline number hides a sharp gender split: men backed it 63%, women rejected it 71-29.
- NO 55%Should companies pay a levy when replacing workers with artificial intelligence?A 10-point win for No that conceals a stark gender split: men backed the AI levy 59-41, women rejected it 82-18 — the widest gulf on the board.