UK’s sense of division reaches a new high: poll

Perceptions of division in the UK have reached their highest point since trends began in 2020, with 84% of the public now saying the country feels divided – up from 79% two years ago and 74% five years ago, according to a major new study by the Policy Institute at King’s College London and Ipsos.

At the same time, the share who believe the nation is divided by ‘culture wars’ specifically has risen by an even greater extent, from 46% in 2020 to 67% today, with most of this increase occurring since 2023, when 54% held this view.

The findings come in a new study carried out by the Policy Institute at King’s College London and Ipsos, as part of a research programme that began in 2020, and also reveal a country increasingly nostalgic for the past and uneasy about the pace of cultural change, with tensions rising around immigration.

On top of this, there are growing concerns about the problems caused by culture wars, a deepening rejection of the term ‘woke’, and notable shifts in attitudes on transgender rights.

Key findings from the survey include:

Half (50%) the public today say the culture in the UK is changing too fast, compared with 35% five years ago, and half (48%) also say they would like their country to be the way it used to be – up from 28% in 2020, with this nostalgia rising among both young and old.
64% of the public now agree culture wars are a serious problem for UK society and politics – up from 52% in 2023 and 44% in 2020. And in the last two years, the proportion who strongly agree with this view has doubled from 10% to 20%.
The share of the public who say they feel proud of their country has dipped below a majority, falling from 56% to 46% in the last five years.
Perceived tension between immigrants and people born in the UK has risen over the last two years after previously been in decline, increasing from 74% who felt there was tension in 2023 to 86% today.
But Brexit divides continue to heal – even with 52% still feeling there is tension between Leavers and Remainers, this is down from 58% in 2023 and 78% in 2020.
The proportion who say transgender rights have gone too far has more than doubled since 2020, from 17% to 39%, though overall there is still no public consensus on the issue.
Around half (48%) the public now consider “woke” an insult – an increase from 42% in 2023 and 24% back in 2020, as awareness of the term has grown.
But a majority either do not consider themselves “woke” or “anti-woke” (43%) or don’t know what the terms mean (19%), with around one in five identifying as each.

Reform voters the most concerned

Reform UK are the only party with a majority (58%) of supporters who feel the UK is very divided – almost double the share of Conservative (33%) and Labour (31%) supporters who say the same, with Green Party supporters in the middle (46%).

Eight in 10 (83%) Reform UK supporters agree the UK is divided by culture wars, compared with around six or seven in 10 of supporters of other parties. 38% of Reform supporters also strongly agree the UK is divided in this way. This compares with 20% of Green Party supporters, who are next most likely to strongly agree.

Nine in 10 (88%) Reform UK supporters agree the pace of cultural change is too fast, compared with seven in 10 (67%) Conservative supporters, who are next most likely to feel this way. Reform supporters are also the only political group where a majority (55%) strongly agree with this view.

A frightening increase in division

This latest study shows a frightening increase in the sense of national division and decline in the UK in just a few years, said Professor Bobby Duffy, Director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London.

“We’ve seen steep rises in the beliefs that the UK is divided, that ‘culture wars’ are real and that things were better in the past. Two-thirds think the UK is now divided by culture wars, up from 46% five years ago.

“Half now say that we’re changing too fast and would like the country to be the way it used to be, both up from around a third in 2020.”

Duffy noted that Reform supporters stand out as particularly negative about the direction of the country and sense of division – an incredible 88% say they’d like the country to be the way it used to be, compared with just 20% of Green supporters.

“But this points to the real challenge – that we now have incredibly different perspectives between different groups in the country, across party lines and by age group.

“Three-quarters of Reform supporters say there is a ‘great deal’ of tension between immigrants and people born in the UK, twice the level of Labour, Lib Dem and Green supporters.

“Six in 10 young women say that transgender rights have gone as far as they should or have not gone far enough, while six in 10 older men say transgender rights have gone too far.”