Britons’ confidence in politics has fallen significantly: Poll

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Guardian
24 Jun 2023 23:46

Only 6% of Britons, according to a reputable think tank, fully trust the political system.

A demonstration in support of strikers in central Manchester, England, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023 (AP)

According to a survey report from a reputable think tank, the British public's confidence in the political system has drastically decreased since the pandemic, maybe as a result of recent political scandals.

Only 6% of the populace fully trusts the political system as it is now, while 89% favor constitutional change, according to the report.

Support for democratic reform is highest in the former industrial heartland of the UK, including the "red wall" areas, according to a survey of 8,000 individuals by Focaldata for the Institute for Public Policy Research.

More than 90% of residents in Burnley, a previous Labour safe seat, want democratic and constitutional reform, according to the data.

"People are still very much in favor of democracy as the best form of government but, in practice, they find our politics are lacking. They find that our politics basically fails to live up to those principles [of democracy]," one of the report's authors, Harry Quilter-Pinner, who is also the director of research and engagement at the IPPR, said.

"Trust in politics is low and has declined quite significantly since Covid 19, potentially as a result of some of the ongoing political scandals we’ve seen in politics. People feel that politics and parliament fail to represent them properly and deliver on the promises that politicians make at election time," he added.

According to the survey, only one in three people believe that parliament will carry out its primary responsibility of acting in the interests of the electorate throughout the UK. As a result, a resounding majority of people want reform.

The majority of respondents (31%) believed the current system needed to be "completely" reformated, followed by 26% who supported reform "to a large extent" and 32% who supported "some" reform. Among the 8,000 respondents, only 6% believed the system did not require modification.

Regional differences existed among the constituencies, with Altrincham and Sale West having one of the lowest levels of trust in the existing political system at only 4.9%.

More generally, the study revealed that residents of the north of England and south of Wales are most likely to favor reform, with dissatisfaction with the current system being higher among those with lower incomes or less education.

According to Quilter-Pinner, the existing political system's democratic disengagement and disenfranchisement are closely tied to factors like income and education. Therefore, those with lesser incomes and less education are less content with the current democracy and favor reforming it.

"We also found a geographical variation where some parts of the country are particularly likely to support democratic reform, and those include former industrial heartlands, including former vulnerable seats and also places like Wales and those places further from Westminster," he said.

He believes that people are tired of the way our country is run and tired of how the system penalizes them in their local towns.

Therefore, they seek radical transformation and democratic reform. They see this as a component of regaining control over a system that has long disadvantaged and disempowered them, whether it is devolution, changing voting procedures, or getting rid of things like hereditary peers in the House of Lords.