Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2023 - Support for redistribution of wealth and growing economy

17th July 2024

Half of people in Scotland (50%) believe the Scottish Government should redistribute income from the better-off to those who are less well-off.

This year's Scottish Social Attitudes Survey - which measures the public’s views on a range of issues - shows just under a quarter of people (23%) disagreed with the redistribution of wealth, an attitude that has remained consistent since 2005.

The survey also found people think the Scottish Government’s highest priority should be to ‘improve the economy’ – a view which has increased in popularity from 23% in 2019 to 42% in 2023. The survey also found almost half (47%) of people thought the Scottish Government should increase taxes and spend more on health, education, and social benefits. This has decreased from 55% of people in 2019.

Parliamentary Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said:

"The survey demonstrates continued support for the redistribution of wealth and an increasing desire among people to see the economy grow. This aligns with the Scottish Government’s commitments and how we are working hard to provide support to those who need it most.

“Examples of this include investing nearly £678 million in Scottish Child Payments as part of our commitment to eradicating child poverty. This investment – made by March this year - has helped reduce financial pressures on the families of more than 329,000 children.

“The survey – which will be studied closely – also shows broad backing for our priorities of growing a thriving economy, ensuring sustainable and excellent public services, and tackling the climate emergency. To that end we are providing more than £19.5 billion for health and social care, £14 billion for local councils and £4.7 billion for activities that will positively impact delivery of our climate goals. People here also have access to benefits such as free prescriptions and free higher education."

Alex Scholes, Senior Researcher at the Scottish Centre for Social Research, said:

“The Scottish Social Attitudes survey provides a valuable time series for monitoring trends and understanding public attitudes, to help support and develop effective policies and identify government priorities. The Scottish Centre for Social Research has collected the data for this survey since its inception in 1999, providing a robust and reliable picture of public attitudes in Scotland.

“It is clear from the survey that the public consider the Scottish economy to be a rising priority, and it shows how people feel the Scottish Government should approach this with regards to taxation, spending and redistribution of income. The results mirror some of the findings from the British Social Attitudes survey and show the issues that the Scottish population are keen to see addressed by the government going forward.”

The Scottish Social Attitudes Survey (SSAS) has been conducted annually (except for 2008, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2020) by the independent Scottish Centre for Social Research since the advent of devolution in 1999, gathering nationally representative data on the social and political views of the Scottish public.

The survey measured the public’s views on a range of issues including influence over how Scotland is run, levels of tax and government priorities, the economy and the NHS.