Tory members vote for the most impressive and most disappointing Coalition policies

By Tim Montgomerie
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More than 1,500 Tory members were asked to rate Coalition policies as impressive or disappointing. the numbers below capture the result of those voting impressive minus those voting disappointed:

1. Making work pay for the unemployed: 81.8% - 5.8% = 76.0%
2. Abolition of ID cards: 81.9% - 9.0% = 72.9%
3. Elimination of the deficit by the end of the parliament: 77.4% - 9.1% = 68.3%
4. Freeze in council tax: 74.8% - 7.4% = 67.4%
5. More school academies and free schools: 73.0% - 9.1% = 63.9%
6. Lower corporation tax: 71.0% - 9.2% = 61.8%
7. Higher income tax thresholds: 68.2% - 12.8% = 55.4%
8. Higher basic state pension for all: 64.7% - 11% = 53.7%
9. All overseas aid to be transparent: 61.3% - 16% = 45.3%
10. More freedoms for local councils: 58.5% - 13.8% = 44.7%
11. Reducing immigration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands: 62.2% - 23.4% = 38.8%
12. Cancer drugs fund: 50.1% - 13.9% = 36.2%
13. Encouragement of charitable giving: 44.0% - 22.2% = 21.8%
14. Reform of tuition fees: 41.3% - 26.6% = 14.7%
15. Four million extra third world children to be vaccinated: 40.8% - 30.7% = 10.1%
16. NHS reforms: 38.5% - 31.2% = 7.3%
17. Elected police chiefs: 38.9% - 34.5% = 4.4%
18. Protecting NHS funding: 36.3% - 34.3% = 2.3%
19. High speed rail: 29.8% - 45.6% = -15.8%
20. Operations in Libya: 27.5% - 46.6% = -19.1%
21. The Green Deal to encourage energy conservation: 15.4% - 57.3% = -41.9%
22. Green investment Bank: 12.5% - 61.2% = -48.7%
23. Increasing the overseas aid budget: 15.0% - 70.7% = -55.7%

A few observations:

• Welfare reform - as with the public at large - remains the Government's most popular policy.
• Doorstep-friendly policies on council tax and the basic state pension are well-supported.
• The immigration policy is surprisingly middle table; perhaps because members doubt that it will be achieved.
• Some flagship and controversial Coalition policies such as elected police chiefs and HS2 have divided Tory members.
• Green policies are largely opposed by members.
• Members support some of the components of the aid policy, including transparency and vaccination but the overall spending on development is the least popular policy.