UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has had a clear mission over the past few weeks.

Under pressure from Rishi Sunak, he and his Treasury officials have been mulling over a tax cut package ahead of the election, which the Prime Minister is convinced is needed to give the Conservatives a fighting chance at the upcoming election.

However, had Hunt consulted his own constituents, he might have come to very different conclusions about what his priorities were on Wednesday.

A recent poll in his seat of New Godalming and Ashe – a brick in the “blue wall” now under attack from the Lib Dems – puts Hunt on track to become the first person in modern times to lose his seat in the House of Commons. Current Chancellor of Finance.

According to a recent survival poll commissioned by campaign group 38 Degrees, the Lib Dems currently have 35% of the vote, the Conservatives regain 29% and Labor has 22%. With tactical voting, the German chancellor could be even further out in the rankings.

But the findings also suggest that, far from being lured back to the Tories by tax cuts, his own voters are prioritizing the plight of the NHS.

When asked about the issues that determine election voting, “health and the NHS” came out on top, followed by the cost of living and the overall economy. Only 4% said taxes were a key election issue.

A whopping 59 per cent of local voters said a close friend or family member had experienced difficulties getting an appointment with their GP, while almost half had struggled to get an appointment themselves.

To underscore the point, two-thirds (67%) of respondents said increased funding for public services such as the NHS was more important in deciding their vote, with 25% saying tax cuts were more important.

Matthew McGregor, group chief executive of 38 Degrees, said: “Under Jeremy Hunt’s leadership, Godalming and Ash’s lives have changed Worse, simple as that.” “This election is an opportunity for change and all parties need to listen: the public want our NHS saved, they want help with the cost of living – they don’t want it cut through tax tactics to buy votes and destroy our vital public services.”

The findings reveal that Hunt found himself caught between three competing and contradictory realities ahead of one of the most crucial political weeks of his long career.

The first is the political reality that some kind of tax cut has been priced in to the point where No. 1 has made it clear that it must be implemented in some form.

But beyond Westminster, the reality of pressures on public services is also unsettling to voters, including Hunt’s Godalming electorate.

Additionally, Hunter faced unwelcome economic realities.

However, with Downing Street pushing for a cut to basic income tax rates and the Treasury favoring cheaper national insurance cuts, the chancellor has chosen to look for cash for tax cuts this week – and now there are growing desperate warnings that It is a complete illusion that tax cuts will be based on future public spending commitments.

Hunt, who is thought to have around £13bn of room within his own fiscal rules, has been considering finding more cash by reducing already tight future spending plans – slashing annual increases from around 1% to 0.75% %.

Economists believe such a modest increase is almost impossible given the pressures on public services, but the desperate pursuit of tax cuts means Hunt may have to adopt this suspended scepticism.

Former Conservative finance minister David Gauke said existing low-spending plans already amounted to a “hospital pass” for the next chancellor.

“No one really believed this could be done,” he said. “The Conservatives are trying to differentiate themselves from Labor on economic issues for two reasons. One is that the Conservatives will be more fiscally prudent, and two is that they will lower taxes. Especially at the moment, these two attributes are contradictory.

“This could be his last big job and could be his last budget. If I were Jeremy Hunt, my first priority would be to ensure that his and the Conservative Party’s reputation for good economic management is strengthened , rather than weakening, rather than trying to gamble that big tax cuts are going to be transformative, I don’t think it’s going to be transformative. It’s going to be.”

There is another trick before the election. Hunt’s pre-budget options include plans to steal some of the revenue-raising ideas promised by Labor – an overhaul of non-domestic tax status and an increase in windfall profits tax on energy companies. This will stoke Labour’s guns.

But with criticism already leveled at Hunt and Sunak from the right, there is a very real political danger that the move will do little to help the prime minister regain control and authority over an increasingly ungovernable Conservative Party.

Survation polled 507 voters in the Godalming and Ashe New constituency between February 16 and 20