Politics

The Prospect/YouGov poll: Britain's fear of unrest & support for civic service

February 23, 2009
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As part of the research for our forthcoming cover story on the case for a national civic service in Britain, Prospect and YouGov polled over 2,000 people in England, Scotland and Wales to explore their hopes and fears for the recession, and their feelings towards a compulsory national civic service. You can now read a detailed analysis of the results on our website, and let us know your own thoughts below.

The pie chart, above left, represents one of the more dramatic findings. In answer to the question "will there be civil unrest in Britain?, 31 per cent (light red) said they believed this was likely to happen, and 6 per cent (dark red) said they believed it was certain to happen; 39 per cent (light blue) said it was likely not to happen, and 12 per cent (dark blue) that it was certain not to happen. 12 per cent (grey) responded that they "did not know." That's 37 per cent—over a third—of people across Britain thinking unrest is certain or likely this year; a finding that chimes uneasily with today's Guardian report that the police are predicting a potential "Summer of rage" here, with a return to the kind of scenes last seen in the 1980s.