Latest news with #BritishSocialAttitudes
New Statesman
15-07-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
Britain's shattered trust
Photo byWestminster loves a good piece of polling research, and the latest offering from More In Common – dramatically entitled Shattered Britain – has captured imaginations as Parliament limps towards the summer recess. There is loads in the report to pore over and squabble about – not least the quiz segmenting the British public into seven strata of voter, from Progressive Activists and Rooted Patriots to Dissenting Disruptors and Sceptical Scrollers (which is, incidentally, a great name for a Nineties indie band). The arguments about how these fit into traditional notions of both class and party politics will go on for days. Key to the analysis is not what separates Brits, but what unites us. And somewhat terrifyingly, that unifying theme seems to be a sense of mistrust. A staggering 87 per cent of people trust politicians not very much or not at all, with net negative trust among all seven groups. This tallies with the latest annual British Social Attitudes survey, published last month, which found that 'Just 12 per cent trust governments to put the interests of the nation above those of their own party just about always or most of the time, a record low'. This lack of trust cuts across a range of different policy areas. On the economy, for example, the cost of living crisis is a key voter concern, with half the public believing it will never get better. This pessimism is understandable, given we have now had 17 years of post-crash politicians telling us that better times (or, if you prefer, sunlit uplands) are just around the corner, if we can only batten down the hatches and make 'tough choices' now. On immigration, a decade and a half of governments promising to bring numbers down while doing the opposite has had a corrosive effect. More In Common's director Luke Tryl has some thoughts on why the issue of small boats crossing the Channel is so potent: it symbolises governments that have lost control. The inability of a country to enforce its own borders will be disturbing in and of itself to many voters – but even to people who are less concerned about the issue itself, it is symptomatic of a state that is struggling to function. MPs, by the way, are not blind to this accusation. Conservatives used to lament that ministers would pull a lever to enact change only to find that nothing happened. Labour MPs had little sympathy – but now they've been in power for a year, you'll increasingly hear them say exactly the same. Twice now, from MPs of different parties, I've been told that if you pull a lever it could well come off in your hand. On everything from reforming welfare to resolving public sector pay disputes, cutting NHS waiting lists to building new homes, investing in infrastructure to stopping the boats, a sense of stasis pervades. Try to kick the Whitehall machine into gear, I was told, and the machine has a tendency to kick back. The public, quite reasonably, is not in the mood for excuses. Back in October, barely 100 days since Labour got into power, I sat in on a focus group of people in Sittingbourne, Essex, who had voted for Boris Johnson in 2019 and Keir Starmer in 2024. I was taken aback (as were the organisers) by just how quickly patience with the new government had evaporated – but in a way it made sense. These people had been promised that their lives would get better while things instead got markedly worse for over a decade. They were tired of giving the politicians who had disappointed them the benefit of the doubt. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe This exhaustion helps explain why Labour has been so unsuccessful in blaming their present challenges on the last government, as David Cameron and George Osborne managed to do effectively for years with their line that 'Labour crashed the economy.' It also goes some way to explaining the rise of Reform – or rather why the criticism that Reform is not a serious party with serious policies is failing to land. (If you're curious about what attack lines Labour could use against Nigel Farage that might actually work, check out the latest NS podcast where polling analyst Steve Akehurst shares his latest research on exactly this topic.) 'The sense that Britain is broken, and that none of the traditional parties or institutions can fix it, is leading more people to think that we need to roll the dice on something new,' reads the Shattered Britain report. Polling from last month ahead of the Spending Review, also by More In Common, found a similar sentiment in the increasing willingness to gamble – to hell with the consequences. As I wrote at the time: 'While 46 per cent of people believe Reform would indeed be a risk to the economy (compared to 29 per cent who don't), almost as many (40 per cent) believe the risk is worth it as 'Reform can't be worse than the other parties when it comes to managing the economy'.' It's unclear how politicians from mainstream parties can possibly respond to all this, given the scale of the challenge and how rapidly the public expects solutions. But tucked away at the very end of the report is the line that 'Britain's political map is fundamentally changing as frustration with the status quo is leading to traditional two-party loyalties collapsing into a volatile multi-party system'. We can debate whether the fact that the last election was the most disproportional ever in terms of how the number of votes related to the number the seats, and whether this is a driver or a symptom of the decline in trust in politics (are voters abandoning traditional parties because they feel let down, or do they feel let down because their votes for non-traditional parties aren't properly counted?). But it's hardly a sign of a democracy in good health. The pithily named voter segments don't just suggest a realignment in politics, but a degree of fragmentation that is difficult to map onto a two-party system. Does 'difficult' in fact mean 'impossible'? Something for MPs to chew over as they prepare for their summer holidays. This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; receive it every morning by subscribing on Substack here [See also: The OBR is always wrong] Related
Daily Mirror
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Labour warned to fix trust as well as raising living standards to defeat Reform
The government has so far followed through on only 1 in 3 of its pledges to rebuild trust in politics, according to a new report from campaign group Unlock Democracy Labour hasn't made its first year count when it comes to restoring trust, campaigners say on the anniversary of Keir Starmer 's general election victory. The government has so far followed through on only 1 in 3 of its pledges to rebuild trust in politics, according to a new report from campaign group Unlock Democracy. Released as Labour marks its first year in office, the 'report card' follows the British Social Attitudes survey finding trust in government has fallen to new record lows in the last year. Tom Brake, Director of Unlock Democracy, commented: 'Trust is the lifeblood of democracy - and right now, it's almost entirely drained away. What limited action the government has so far taken has failed to stem the bleeding. 'Labour must move beyond rhetoric and deliver on its pledges to rebuild public trust in full.' Unlock Democracy gave Labour's move to scrap hereditary peers full marks against promises made in its manifesto. But the group expressed disappointment that the government's Elections Bill - which presents an opportunity to fix much of the issues around trust in the political process - has been delayed, possibly into next year. The report calls for Labour to act on tightening restrictions on MPs second jobs, gifts and freebies and lobbying rules. And it warns Labour's prospects of re-election may hinge on restoring public trust - with improvements to living standards not being enough to halt the rise of Reform UK. Mr Brake added: 'Without urgent, visible action to clean up Westminster and modernise our institutions, Labour risks deepening the crisis in mistrust it promised to solve.'
Spectator
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Brexit betrayal is driving Tory voters into Farage's arms
Since returning to the political front line during the middle of last year's election campaign, Nigel Farage has enjoyed remarkable success in his stated quest for Reform for replace the Conservatives as the principal party of the right in Britain. The latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) report, published this week, helps explain how and why he is succeeding. Boris Johnson rose to success in 2019 thanks to his ability to appeal to socially conservative Britain. These were the voters that provided the core vote for Leave in 2016 and which now voted to 'get Brexit done'. However, disenchanted with how Brexit has turned out and deeply distrustful of how the country is being governed, over the last twelve months these voters have been flocking to Reform in ever-growing numbers. Leave voters are decidedly unhappy about how Brexit has turned out In 2019, no less than two-thirds (66 per cent) of socially conservative Britons, who, apart from backing Brexit, tend to be concerned about immigration and to take an 'anti-woke' stance on so-called 'culture wars' issues, voted Conservative. Equally, 71 per cent of those who had voted Leave in 2016 were in the Conservative camp then too. But as the party slumped to its worst ever defeat last year, those numbers tumbled. Just 32 per cent of socially conservative Britain voted Conservative, as did just one in three (33 per cent) of those who had voted Leave. Most of this decline was occasioned by voters switching to Reform, who matched the Tories' tally among Leave voters (winning 34 per cent) and almost did so among social conservatives (28 per cent). Since the election, Tory losses among those central to Boris Johnson's election victory have simply continued apace. When respondents to BSA were recontacted in March, Reform, with 37 per cent support, were now clearly ahead among socially conservative voters, while the Conservatives were well behind on just 26 per cent. Indeed, social conservatives were now barely any more likely than those who are neither socially conservative nor liberal to say they would vote Conservative. Meanwhile, support for the Conservatives among Leave voters was now down to just 26 per cent, while Reform, with 45 per cent, was well ahead of all the competition. In contrast, just 5 per cent of Remain supporters were backing Reform. Reform's support is not simply a general protest vote; rather it is very distinctively a cry of disappointment and disenchantment by pro-Brexit Britain. Leave voters are decidedly unhappy about how Brexit has turned out. In the wake of record levels of immigration, no less than 62 per cent feel that immigration has been higher as a result of Brexit, the very opposite of what most of them had anticipated in 2016. Meanwhile, in an era of poor economic performance, 38 per cent have concluded that the economy has been made worse off by Brexit too. For a minority, these perceptions have been accompanied by a change of mind about Brexit. But for others, they have served to undermine their trust and confidence in how Britain is being governed. When it was first delivered, Brexit boosted trust and confidence among Leave voters. For example, in 2020 approaching half (46 per cent) felt that little or no improvement was needed to how Britain was being governed, almost twice the equivalent proportion among Remain supporters (24 per cent). Now, however, only 14 per cent of Leave voters take that view, even lower than the equivalent figure, 19 per cent, among those who backed Remain. And a low level of trust and confidence is a hallmark of Remain voters. In last year's election, just over a quarter (26 per cent) of those who think Britain's system of government is in need of improvement voted Reform, compared with just 5 per cent of those who feel the system needs little or no improvement. The party's name, 'Reform UK', encapsulates well the outlook of many of the party's supporters. Meanwhile, the rise of social media appears to have created something of a breeding ground for Reform support. Even though the party is backed predominantly by older voters, with those who primarily rely on social media to follow the news being predominantly young, support for the party was five points higher last year among social media users than it was among those reliant on other media for their political news. Nigel Farage's TikTok posts are, perhaps, not just reaching out to younger voters after all. In any event, the challenge posed by Reform to the future of the Conservative party is profound. Not only has it lost most of the pro-Brexit vote it won in 2019, but its grip on what has long been the core of its support – those on the right economically rather than culturally – is now under threat too. In our March survey, Reform (on 28 per cent) were only narrowly behind the Conservatives (31 per cent) among this group, something that Ukip never threatened to do. Command of the political right in Britain is up for grabs as never before.
The National
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Support for UK electoral reform is at a record high. Here's why
A total of 60% of the population now want to change the voting system 'to allow for smaller parties to get a fairer share of MPs', according to the British Social Attitudes survey. This change is backed by a majority of supporters of all parties and by those with low levels of trust and confidence in government. The figure represents a staggering increase of 33% since 2011, when less than a third of people wanted to change the system. READ MORE: Here's what we learned from John Curtice's new polling report A report – compiled by Professor John Curtice, Alex Scholes and Aisha Chabdu and entitled Britain's Democracy: A Health Check – shows how just 36% of people are now happy with the first past the post voting system staying as it is. The authors concluded voters seemed to feel the choice between Labour and the Tories at the General Election was 'a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee'. For the first time, more than half of people (53%) say they would prefer a coalition running the UK than a one-party government (41%). It comes after the Labour Party managed to secure a huge majority of MPs in the Commons last July despite winning just over a third of the vote. Willie Sullivan, senior director of campaigns for the Electoral Reform Society, said the General Election in 2024 was the 'most disproportional ever' and clearly showed people are now voting in a multi-party way. He said: 'Public support to change the electoral system has hit a record 60%, according to the latest British Social Attitudes survey, showing a clear majority want to ditch Westminster's distorting First Past the Post system. 'This surge in support comes after last year's General Election was the most disproportional ever, meaning the current Parliament least represents how the whole country voted of any in history. 'The General Election and this year's local elections also showed that people are clearly voting in a multi-party way, and we now need a proportional voting system that accurately represents how they are voting with the MPs they get at Westminster. 'Having a fair and accurate voting system is a crucial step to restoring trust in politics, which the latest BSA results also alarmingly found has slumped to a record low.' The below graph shows how people's attitudes towards the voting system have changed, with a dramatic shift forming over the past five years. (Image: British Social Attitudes Survey) Despite Labour clinching this landslide victory, the survey suggests there has only been a slight decline since 2023 in Labour supporters' backing for electoral reform, with 55% still in favour of change. The survey also showed just 12% trust governments to put the interests of the nation above those of their own party 'just about always or most of the time' – which is a record low. Only 19% think the system of governing Britain needs little or no improvement. In its conclusion, the report says the survey has 'left some significant questions hanging over the continued health of Britain's traditional system of democracy' with the authors suggesting many voters felt the choice between Labour and the Tories was like 'a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee'. It said: 'What the election does appear to have done is to provide an opportunity for some voters to express their discontent by voting for parties that posed an unprecedentedly strong challenge to the country's traditional, limited panoply of political parties. 'Those with low levels of trust and confidence were markedly more likely to vote for Reform or the Greens, thereby helping to push the share of the vote won by the Conservatives and Labour combined to a record low. 'For many, the choice between the two parties of government looked too much like a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.' READ MORE: Corbyn-led party would attract 10 per cent of vote, poll says The traditional demographic division between middle and working-class voters that had long provided the foundation of support for the Conservatives and Labour respectively showed 'no signs of re-emerging', the report said, with voters age and educational background mattering much more. The authors warned that while the debate on electoral reform is important, people should not jump to conclusions that changing the voting system would restore faith in government. 'We should be wary of anticipating that changing the electoral system would prove sufficient to restore voters' faith in how they are being governed,' the report said. 'Ultimately, they are looking for more effective government than they feel they have enjoyed in recent years, not least in respect of the economy and public services. The key question ultimately facing Britain's democracy is whether it can deliver.'
The National
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Why has electoral reform support reached record high in UK?
A total of 60% of the population now want to change the voting system 'to allow for smaller parties to get a fairer share of MPs', according to the British Social Attitudes survey. This change is backed by a majority of supporters of all parties and by those with low levels of trust and confidence in government. The figure represents a staggering increase of 33% since 2011, when less than a third of people wanted to change the system. READ MORE: Here's what we learned from John Curtice's new polling report A report – compiled by Professor John Curtice, Alex Scholes and Aisha Chabdu and entitled Britain's Democracy: A Health Check – shows how just 36% of people are now happy with the first past the post voting system staying as it is. The authors concluded voters seemed to feel the choice between Labour and the Tories at the General Election was 'a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee'. For the first time, more than half of people (53%) say they would prefer a coalition running the UK than a one-party government (41%). It comes after the Labour Party managed to secure a huge majority of MPs in the Commons last July despite winning just over a third of the vote. Willie Sullivan, senior director of campaigns for the Electoral Reform Society, said the General Election in 2024 was the 'most disproportional ever' and clearly showed people are now voting in a multi-party way. He said: 'Public support to change the electoral system has hit a record 60%, according to the latest British Social Attitudes survey, showing a clear majority want to ditch Westminster's distorting First Past the Post system. 'This surge in support comes after last year's general election was the most disproportional ever, meaning the current Parliament least represents how the whole country voted of any in history. 'The general election and this year's local elections also showed that people are clearly voting in a multi-party way, and we now need a proportional voting system that accurately represents how they are voting with the MPs they get at Westminster. 'Having a fair and accurate voting system is a crucial step to restoring trust in politics, which the latest BSA results also alarmingly found has slumped to a record low.' The below graph shows how people's attitudes towards the voting system have changed, with a dramatic shift forming over the past five years. (Image: British Social Attitudes Survey) Despite Labour clinching this landslide victory, the survey suggests there has only been a slight decline since 2023 in Labour supporters' backing for electoral reform, with 55% still in favour of change. The survey also showed just 12% trust governments to put the interests of the nation above those of their own party 'just about always or most of the time' – which is a record low. Only 19% think the system of governing Britain needs little or no improvement. In its conclusion, the report says the survey has 'left some significant questions hanging over the continued health of Britain's traditional system of democracy' with the authors suggesting many voters felt the choice between Labour and the Tories was like 'a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee'. It said: 'What the election does appear to have done is to provide an opportunity for some voters to express their discontent by voting for parties that posed an unprecedentedly strong challenge to the country's traditional, limited panoply of political parties. 'Those with low levels of trust and confidence were markedly more likely to vote for Reform or the Greens, thereby helping to push the share of the vote won by the Conservatives and Labour combined to a record low. 'For many, the choice between the two parties of government looked too much like a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.' READ MORE: Corbyn-led party would attract 10 per cent of vote, poll says The traditional demographic division between middle and working-class voters that had long provided the foundation of support for the Conservatives and Labour respectively showed 'no signs of re-emerging', the report said, with voters age and educational background mattering much more. The authors warned that while the debate on electoral reform is important, people should not jump to conclusions that changing the voting system would restore faith in government. 'We should be wary of anticipating that changing the electoral system would prove sufficient to restore voters' faith in how they are being governed,' the report said. 'Ultimately, they are looking for more effective government than they feel they have enjoyed in recent years, not least in respect of the economy and public services. The key question ultimately facing Britain's democracy is whether it can deliver.'
