More in Common, the organisation established after the shocking murder of Jo Cox nine years ago, published a report in July, which must give any of us who care about this country and the state that it is in a great deal of food for thought. Entitled ‘Shattered Britain’, it lays bare the utter mess that so much of the country is in after so many years of divisive neoliberal economic policies and neglect of so many communities and people.
Seven groups
The executive summary begins by breaking down the population of Britain into seven groups, who share values and political views. These are seen as being as follows:
Progressive Activists – 12% of the population. These are those identified as “a highly engaged and globally-minded group driven by concerns about social justice”.
Incrementalist Left – 21% of the population. Another group that could be said to be on the left, this is a “civic-minded, community-oriented group holding views which are generally left-of centre but with an aversion to the extreme”.
Established Liberals – 9% of the population. More in the centre there is “a prosperous, confident segment who believe the system broadly works as it is and who trust experts to deliver continued progress”.
Sceptical Scrollers – 10% of the population. Then we reach a wholly different group, described as “a digitally-native group whose unhappiness with the social contract means they have lost faith in traditional institutions and seek alternative sources of truth online”.
Rooted Patriots – 20% of the population. This relatively large group is seen as “a patriotic but politically untethered group which feels abandoned and overlooked by political elites”.
Traditional Conservatives – 8% of the population. This group, which surely would have been considerably bigger a decade or so ago, is seen as “respectful of authority and tradition, this group believes in individual responsibility and established norms that have served them well”.
Dissenting Disruptors – 20% of the population. Finally, there is another relatively large group, who are said to be, “frustrated with their circumstances and with an appetite for radical solutions, this group craves dramatic change and strong leadership.”
The report
Following this description of how Britain is fragmented into seven different and often opposing tribes, the report goes on to paint a disturbing picture of just how broken the country is in so many ways.
Among other findings, the report finds that many Britons are tired of never-ending crises, are tired of a status quo that simply isn’t working for them and unsurprisingly this has led to a huge crisis of faith in politics.
Meanwhile the report also talks of how many Britons are worn down by both political chaos and their own struggles, as the cost-of-living crisis has become harder and the help that should be available from the state has gradually disappeared. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the world outside seems to be getting scarier, with eight out of ten people surveyed, perceiving that the international situation is getting more threatening.
Compounding these problems, the survey also found that people feel a great loss of agency and have less power over their own lives. This feeling is felt particularly keenly among the rooted patriots and disrupting dissenters.
Solving the problems
The report did find that people across the country have similar thoughts about what is wrong with the country but differed in what the correct prescriptions should be for Britain’s ills. The main fault line appears to be between those who think that are simple solutions to our problems and those who feel that the problems are more complex and therefore require complex solutions.
It was notable that there was a clear difference between what might be seen as the more left-wing groups and more right-wing groups as to what the solutions should be. Those who tend to be more on the left also tend towards seeing the problems and the solutions as quite complex, while those who could be said to be more on the political right, tended more towards feeling that many of our probes had simple solutions, that just called for strong leadership and ‘common sense’.
Going forward
Rachel Cunliffe, writing in the New Statesman has noted that “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’”.
It was also noted that what she described as the “pithily named voter segments”, suggest a degree of fragmentation going way beyond some straight-forward realignment, but rather a situation that is “difficult to map onto a two-party system.” Cunliffe even goes as far as to say that it may be impossible to do so…
Comment
This is a very disturbing, if not in any way surprising report. Britain has seemed like a broken nation for many years now, which could be said to be a consequence of Brexit, or that it goes further back and was in fact a major cause of the referendum result. What is certain; however, is that there is a picture of a perfect storm painted here, which seems to be set up for a right-wing populist election victory, if the situation is not changed – and very quickly.
The report outlines clearly that there is about 40% of the population who feel very alienated and seeing solutions to our problems as simple, might be prepared to take a punt on a prominent snake-oil seller, promising the earth, with simple solutions.
This is very concerning, as of course this has been tried before, not least in Germany in the 1930s. So, what to do?
The problems we face are indeed complex and there are no simple solutions, but we can at least be clear on the main cause. Over the last 45 years, as neo-liberal policies have caused ever greater inequalities across the western world and the public realm has been continually chipped away at, then our collective sense of identity and how we can work together for a better world and the hope that goes with it has similarly been taken to pieces.
The solutions are complicated, but must involve bringing people together, helping people to find common cause, whether over issues that affect us all, such as health and education or the overarching issue of the environment. It is clear that people must be empowered, and serious funding must go along with that empowerment. So that people feel less alienated and feel that they have greater agency over their own lives and those of their communities. If this needs a more stringent wealth tax, to redistribute income, then so be it. After all, it has been said that 80% of millionaires would be willing to pay more tax.
Here in the North East, the warning signs have been flashing on red for a considerable amount of time now. The election of a Reform council in County Durham in May, was only the final confirmation that there is much that needs to be done.
My fear is that the present Labour government does not really understand any of this and thinks that at best tinkering at the edges of our problems will somehow suffice. It won’t and the consequences are almost too awful to contemplate.
