Labour members put pensions top of the list for spending cuts

Labour members put pensions top of the list for spending cuts

One in three Labour members names pensions among the areas where government spending should be reduced most, but the party membership remains far more inclined towards higher taxes and public spending than the country as a whole.

Pensions have emerged as the area Labour members are most likely to target for spending reductions, exposing a striking divide between the party's grassroots and the wider British public.

New YouGov polling for Sky News and iNHouse Communications found that 32 per cent of Labour members selected pensions when asked to choose up to three areas in which the Government should reduce spending the most.

Overseas aid followed on 25 per cent, while 23 per cent selected welfare benefits. At the opposite end of the scale, just one per cent selected the NHS and one per cent education.

A quarter said they would not want spending reduced in any of the areas presented to them.

The findings come as the Government faces decisions over taxation and public spending ahead of its forthcoming Budget, and reveal a considerable generational divide within Labour over where savings should fall.

Younger Labour members are much more willing to cut pensions

Among Labour members aged under 40, 42 per cent included pensions among the areas where they would most like spending reduced.

That falls to just 15 per cent among older members, 41 per cent of whom instead answered “none of these”.

The contrast is particularly notable because pensions are not an obvious target for the electorate more broadly.

YouGov's public tracker finds only eight per cent of Britons put pensions among the areas where spending should be reduced most. Instead, 60 per cent select overseas aid, 42 per cent welfare benefits and 28 per cent spending on the environment and climate change.

The Government remains committed to the state pension triple lock, under which the basic and new state pensions rise according to the highest of earnings growth, inflation or 2.5 per cent. The state pension increased by 4.8 per cent in April 2026, with more than 12 million pensioners receiving the increase.

YouGov previously found Labour members divided over whether the triple lock should be abolished, while the wider public was more supportive of retaining it.

Labour members still favour greater spending overall

The appetite for pension reductions should not, however, be mistaken for a broader enthusiasm among Labour members for a smaller state.

Almost two thirds, 64 per cent, believe the Government currently taxes too little and spends too little on public services. Only nine per cent believe taxation and spending are too high.

Among the British public, the picture presented by YouGov is almost the reverse. Some 43 per cent say the Government taxes and spends too much, while 21 per cent believe it taxes and spends too little.

That difference becomes still clearer when Labour members are asked how the Government should deal with gaps in the forthcoming Budget.

Nearly two thirds, 62 per cent, favour tax rises. Just 12 per cent would prioritise reductions in public spending and ten per cent would prefer greater borrowing.

The result therefore presents a more complicated picture than simply suggesting Labour members want pension cuts. Most would rather increase taxes than reduce public expenditure overall. When forced to consider where reductions should fall, however, pensions emerge as their most commonly selected option.

The polling arrives during Labour's annual conference in Liverpool and at a significant moment for the Government under Andy Burnham. Separate YouGov research published this week found 94 per cent of Labour members believe Burnham is doing a good job as prime minister.

The party's position with the wider electorate remains less secure. YouGov's latest MRP projects Labour as the largest party in a hung parliament on 241 seats, compared with the 411 it won at the 2024 general election.

That leaves the Government confronting a familiar political difficulty: reconciling the priorities of its membership with those of voters beyond it.

The YouGov survey was conducted online among 781 Labour Party members aged 16 and over between September 18 and 23, 2026, in collaboration with Sky News and iNHouse Communications.