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This article presents information on the reactions to the public expenditure cuts by the Labour Government between 1976-79, Great Britain, and the and the Conservatives since can be seen as an attempt to reverse the historical trend towards increasing collective consumption and the growth of the welfare state. Despite the significance of this social change, very little empirical sociological research is currently being undertaken specifically on the crisis and the cuts. This research note examines attitudinal and behavioural response to the cuts with special reference to the occupational class and party political dimensions. As such it is part of a wider study of the social and political effects of the public expenditure cuts. The research design adopted involved a comparison of two socially similar urban wards in Greater Manchester, one in a district represented by a Conservative MP and controlled locally by the Conservative party (Torytown) and the other in a district represented by a Labour MP and controlled locally by the Labour party (Labourville).