Boris Johnson faced criticism over his handling of the energy and supply chain crises, as exclusive polling for The Independent has found two-thirds of voters say he has performed badly.
In addition, only 41 per cent of people polled for this website by Savanta ComRes said they were confident in how the government was handling the economy – just days before Rishi Sunak was due to set out his budget.
Viewers of Mr Sunak’s Budget speech on Wednesday may not get many surprises because the Treasury has already trailed some £20bn of investment ahead of time.
The spending spree includes some £7bn to “level up” transport outside London, though not all of it is new money; £500m for family support including new Sure Start-style children’s centres; and £5bn for health research and genome sequencing.
Also on Sunday the chancellor rejected a fresh plea from Marcus Rashford to extend free school meals, saying the government had already acted to help children and has now “transitioned to a more normal way of doing things” post-Covid.
