More than two thirds of people (67 per cent) don’t feel represented by any major political party, Iceland Foods latest customer listening survey has revealed as Iceland gears up to launch its first-ever customer Manifesto ahead of the General Election on 4 July.
More than 2,800 customers took part in the latest survey, identifying cost-of-living and immigration as the biggest issues facing Britain today. These were also cited as the most important problem for political parties to tackle in order to secure peoples’ votes.
At the time of the poll, only around half (56 per cent) of Iceland customers across the UK claimed they knew who they were voting for in the upcoming General Election, with a third of people (32 per cent) openly saying they are still undecided – meaning this could be the most influential pre-election period in decades, giving opportunity for political parties to change minds with the launch of their own manifestos and upcoming interviews.
Over the past few months, Iceland has been conducting polls and regional focus groups to form the basis of the supermarkets first-ever customer ‘manifesto’, which will be delivered to all political parties later this month. Across the surveys, an average of 93 per cent said they had suffered with cost-of-living rises in the past 12 months, and 65 per cent said the current government and business leaders are not doing enough to help rectify issues.
In the latest set of results, a lack of funding and support for public services were highlighted as concern points for customers. According to the poll, 82 per cent of respondents said NHS wait times have increased over the past 12 months, with almost a quarter (22 per cent) being reluctant to get an appointment due to the long wait times experienced.
Additionally, when asked about the noise around the upcoming General Election only 20 per cent of respondents said Rishi was right when it came to the timings of when this was called. Similarly, when asked about the proposed re-introduction of the National Service scheme from the Conservative Party, respondents were down the middle, with 48 per cent supporting the proposal.
Richard Walker, executive chairman of Iceland, said, “We’re 22 days away from what is expected to be a historical election that will shake up Westminster – but it means little to the real people of Britain if they don’t feel represented by any of the major political parties.
“I have listened to our customers and colleagues up and down the country on the issues that matter most to them – cost-of-living, access to public services and overall dissatisfaction with government and business leaders. Our manifesto is about making sure they feel heard in all of the noise generated by this General Election.
“These issues highlighted in this latest survey will help to shape and finalise our manifesto. We will be sharing our work with all major political parties this month to bring high street realism to Westminster.”
