Independent / Sunday Mirror Political Poll

Political poll on behalf of the Independent / Sunday Mirror on party leaders and David Cameron’s tax affairs. Includes voting intention.

Nearly half of voters – 44% – agree that David Cameron’s management of his financial affairs has been “morally repugnant”, according to a ComRes poll for The Independent and Sunday Mirror: 33% disagree and 22% don’t know. George Osborne, the Chancellor, described tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance as “morally repugnant” in his 2012 Budget.

Around half of voters – 52% – say that the Prime Minister has not been “honest and open” about his financial affairs: 31% say he has been honest and open and 17% don’t know. Mr Cameron disclosed that he had held shares in his father’s offshore trust after the leak of the Panama Papers two weeks ago, and last Sunday published his tax returns for the past six years.

Despite these findings, 36% of voters would prefer Mr Cameron to manage their financial affairs, well ahead of nearest rivals Nicola Sturgeon and Jeremy Corbyn, each on 19%.

In voting intention figures, the Conservatives on 35% have a 5-point lead over Labour, on 30%, down from a 9-point lead last month.

Q: If you had to, which of these political figures would you most like to…

	David Cameron	Boris Johnson	Jeremy Corbyn	Nigel Farage	Nicola Sturgeon
Have a meal with	12%	38%	18%	15%	18%
Have on your pub quiz team	14%	40%	19%	16%	11%
Give you first aid treatment in an emergency	19%	15%	20%	8%	38%
Manage your financial affairs	36%	16%	19%	10%	19%
Run the country	31%	19%	24%	12%	14%
Be a contestant on “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” with	15%	40%	13%	20%	11%
Negotiate with terrorists	31%	18%	21%	14%	17%
Go on summer holiday with	11%	41%	13%	11%	24%

Base: GB adults (n=2,036)

Fewer than half of Labour voters (42%) say they would most like Jeremy Corbyn – out of the political figures tested – to manage their financial affairs; this is compared to 71% of Conservative voters who would say the same for David Cameron.
Of all of the political figures, three in five Labour voters (60%) say they would most like Jeremy Corbyn to run the country; this is eleven percentage points behind the number of Conservative voters who say they would most like David Cameron to run to the country (71%).
More than half of Conservative voters (58%) say they would most like David Cameron to negotiate with terrorists, compared to 19% who say Boris Johnson. Four in ten Labour voters (43%) would say the same for Jeremy Corbyn and 19% for Sturgeon.

Tax Affairs

Q: Do you agree or disagree with each following statements?

	Agree	Disagree	Don’t Know
David Cameron has been honest and open about his financial affairs	31%	52%	17%
The UK should take direct control of its overseas territories that might be used as tax havens	72%	11%	17%
David Cameron’s Government has a good record of tackling tax avoidance and evasion	23%	53%	23%
The Conservative Party only represents the interests of the rich	59%	29%	12%
All citizens of other European Union countries should have the right to live and work in the United Kingdom	31%	53%	16%
The tax returns of all citizens should be published, as in Norway, Sweden and Finland	49%	31%	21%
I have sometimes paid a builder or other tradesperson in cash to avoid having to pay VAT	30%	59%	10%
David Cameron’s management of his financial affairs has been morally repugnant	44%	33%	22%

Base: GB adults (n=2,036)

While the majority of Conservative voters agree that David Cameron has been honest and open about his financial affairs (64%), the majority of Labour supports disagree (73%). One in five Conservative voters, however, disagree that Cameron has been open and honest (19%).
Less convincingly for the Prime Minister, while the plurality of Conservative voters agree that his Government has a good record of tackling tax avoidance and evasion (46%), three in ten (29%) say that they ‘don’t know’ and further quarter (25%) disagree.
Seven in ten (71%) Labour voters disagree that Mr Cameron’s Government has had a good record; just 14% agree.
The majority of Labour voters agree (54%) that the tax returns of all citizens should be published, as in Norway, Sweden and Finland, while half (26%) disagree.
Conservative voters are more split on this issue; 45% agree the statement, while roughly as many (39%) disagree.
Looking towards the EU, two-thirds of Conservative voters (66%) disagree that all citizens of other European Union countries should have the right to live and work in the United Kingdom, while 22% agree.
Labour voters, however, are more split over this issue, with 44% agreeing that all EU citizens should have these rights, and 40% disagreeing.
When asked the same question in August 2013, 57% of GB adults disagreed with this statement and 23% agreed.
There is cross party support for taking control of tax havens; three-quarters of Labour voters (77%) and one in seven Conservative voters (69%) agree that the UK should take direct control of its overseas territories that might be used as tax havens.

Voting intention

The Conservatives lead over Labour has been reduced to 5 percentage points, a decrease of 4 percentage points from March.

Con 35% (-3)

Lab 30% (+1)

LD 8% (+1)

UKIP 16% (NC)

Green 4% (NC)

SNP 5% (+1)

Other 1% (NC)

Date Published: 16th April 2016

Categories: Elections | GB | Politics | Public and communities | Voting Intention

Client: Independent / Sunday Mirror

Methodology

ComRes interviewed 2,036 GB adults online on 13 and 14 April 2016. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults. Data were also weighted by past vote recall. Voting intention figures are calculated using the ComRes Voter Turnout Model. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.