Wage Policy Tops List For Voters

Increasing the minimum wage and ensuring that pensions rise are the top General Election priorities for Scottish voters, according to a poll.

The Ipsos Mori research asked participants to rank policies on a scale from one, meaning it should never be implemented, to 10, meaning it is very important and should be put in place quickly.

Increasing the minimum wage for people aged 21 and over from £6.50 to £7.85 per hour was ranked the highest with an average score of 8.2.

A guarantee that old-age pensions will rise over the next five years was a close second with a mean score of 7.9.

Other popular policies included stopping energy companies from increasing prices for 20 months (7.7), introducing a tax on homes worth more than £2 million (7.4) and raising the top rate of tax to 50p in the pound for those earning more than £150,000 a year (7.2).

The least popular proposition was for taxes to be reduced, even if that means cutting public spending, which scored an average of four on the scale.

The policy to eliminate the deficit by the end of the next Parliament in 2020 even if that means reduced spending on public services'' was ranked 4.6 while the idea of charging better-off older people for some things which are currently free to all scored 5.2.

Ipsos Mori surveyed 1,042 Scottish adults between March 19 and 25.