article_snippet: There has been no public backlash against five years of austerity and even Labour voters support reforms to the benefits system, the British Social Attitudes Survey found.
article_snippet: In a major vote of confidence for the Government, almost three in four people backed the benefits cap – one of David Cameron’s reforms which has been most severely criticised by the Left.
article_snippet: Among Labour supporters two in three back the cap, which restricts handouts to the level of an average wage –
article_snippet: currently £500 a week for a family.
article_snippet: Half of voters are unsympathetic to the idea of increasing welfare handouts, with 52 per cent believing unemployment benefits are too high.
article_snippet: And a similar percentage think that unemployed people could find a job if unemployed people wanted to.
article_snippet: The annual report, which is based on 2,878 interviews with people across Britain in autumn last year, also revealed concerns about how welfare claimants spend welfare claimants money.
article_snippet: Six out of ten said that claimants should be able to spend benefits only on specific goods and services, as with food stamps in the US.
article_snippet: Fewer than one in ten people think that immigrants – from the EU or elsewhere – should be able to claim welfare payments indefinitely, while even half of Labour voters would set a six-month limit on giving the EU arrivals access to the full range of benefits.
article_snippet: The findings suggest that voters have not responded to Left-wing outcries against Government cuts.
article_snippet: Researchers said Researchers had expected to find a public reaction against spending and benefit cuts.
article_snippet: But the report said: ‘The most common position remains that taxes and spending should stay at the same level.
article_snippet: In 2002 nearly two out of three people said nearly two out of three people wanted higher taxes and more spending on health, education and benefits.
article_snippet: That fell to just 32 per cent by 2010, and is now up slightly to 37 per cent.
article_snippet: the report added that Labour supporters were more sympathetic to welfare spending than other respondents, but ‘even so Labour supporters were more sympathetic to welfare spending than other respondents can hardly be regarded as enthusiasts for more, and would prefer that people of working age were in work.
highlights_snippet: Even Labour voters support reforms to benefits system, survey finds .
  