Public tolerance of austerity is collapsing as support for higher taxes to enable more spending on health, education and policing increases, according to the latest British social attitudes survey.

Eight in 10 people surveyed for the annual barometer of public attitudes said they wanted more cash pumped into the NHS, while seven in 10 supported more investment in schools, and 60% wanted higher spending on the police.

Amid general support across the political spectrum for more interventionist government, the survey identified faster growth in socially liberal attitudes towards sex and sexuality, as well as strong support for increased state powers to tackle suspected terrorists.

“People’s tolerance for austerity is drying up, even if that means higher taxes,” said Roger Harding, head of public attitudes at the National Centre for Social Research, which carried out the survey. “This leftwards tilt on tax and spend is matched by a long-running conservatism on national security and law and order. In all, people want an active state that’s firm but fairer.”

Support for higher taxes and spending rose to 48% in 2016, higher than at any time since 2004, and significantly up on the historically low of 32% recorded in 2010 at the beginning of the coalition’s austerity programme.



It was the first time since 2006 that the proportion of people calling for higher taxes and spending was greater than those wanting to maintain existing levels. Support for cuts to public spending fell to 29% (compared with 35% when the question was last asked in 2006). There was an 11-point decline in support for cuts among Conservatives over the same period.

Describing the last seven years as a “relative famine” in terms of public expenditure, the survey concluded: “It appears that gradually the public are beginning to react against that experience as reflected in declining support for cutting expenditure as a way of helping the economy and some increase in support for spending on public services.”

On welfare, there was a surge in support for spending on benefits for disabled people to 67%, compared with 53% in 2010. There was a significant softening in attitudes to benefit recipients, with the proportion of people believing claimants were “fiddling” the system dropping over the past two years from 35% to 22% – its lowest level in 30 years.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Police in Westminster. They survey found people want more security. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

The survey, carried out before the recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, found strong backing for hardline responses to suspected terrorism. A majority (53%) backed indefinite detention without trial for suspected terrorists, currently restricted by law to 14 days.

More than two-thirds (70%) believe authorities should have the right to randomly stop and search suspects if a terrorist attack is anticipated. More generally there was support for the state to keep people under video surveillance in public areas (80%) and the right to monitor individuals’ emails and internet habits (50%).

The survey found increasingly liberal attitudes on personal issues, such as sexuality and abortion. Almost two-thirds of people agreed with the statement that same-sex relationships were “not wrong at all”, up from 47% in 2012, and a far cry from the 11% low point recorded in 1987 at the height of the Aids crisis. Some 55% of Anglicans say same-sex relations are not wrong at all. Just four years ago, the figure was 31%.

Attitudes to sex before marriage were also quickly becoming more liberal, with a majority (75%) of people agreeing this was not at all wrong, up 11 percentage points on 2012. Record numbers (70%) agreed that abortion should be allowed if the woman decided that she did not want the child.

Six out of ten under-35s now think that adults should be able to watch any film they like, suggesting more liberal views of pornography.



Attitudes to transgender issues were measured for the first time. Although 82% described themselves as “not prejudiced at all” towards transgender people, only four in 10 felt a transgender person should be employed as a police officer or primary school teacher, suggesting a gap between private and revealed views.



Public support for euthanasia remained consistent with previous surveys dating back 30 years, with 77% of people saying a person with an incurable disease should have the legal right to ask a doctor to end their life.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pride march 2016. Attitudes to same-sex relationships have liberalised, according to the survey. Photograph: Michael Tubi/Corbis via Getty Images

“It seems clear from these issues that ‘social liberalism’ is a growing feature of British society and will seemingly remain so as the older age cohorts are replaced by young ones,” the survey concludes.

On Brexit, the survey found the concerns of socially conservative voters about the social consequences of EU membership – especially immigration – were the most significant factor in the result. “Suggestions that the EU referendum represented a lightning rod for a general disenchantment with politics are largely wide of the mark,” it says.

The survey, which has been conducted every year since 1983, was carried out between June and December 2016. It consisted of 2,942 interviews with a random, representative sample of adults in Britain.