(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Almost two-thirds of adults in Britain believe their country is in a state of crisis and many blame crime and immigration for it, according to a poll by YouGov. 64 per cent of respondents think British society is broken, while 23 per cent disagree.

When asked which aspects lead them to say that British society is broken, 57 per cent of respondents point to a high incidence of crime and anti-social behaviour, while 43 per cent state that too many immigrants are moving into Britain. Less than 30 per cent of respondents mention economic setbacks, problems among teenagers, misleading politicians, a widening wealth gap, and broken homes.

In June 2007, Gordon Brown officially became Labour leader and prime minister, replacing Tony Blair. Brown had worked as chancellor of the exchequer. Blair served as Britain’s prime minister since May 1997, winning majority mandates in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 elections to the House of Commons.

Since December 2005, David Cameron has been the leader of the Conservative party. Cameron has repeatedly said that in order to fix Britain’s "broken society", the country must elect a Tory government that would tackle the root causes of poverty and anti-social behaviour.

On Jul. 28, Conservative policy chief Oliver Letwin explained how Cameron intends to "fix society", saying, "I think there is now a tide running against Labour’s centralized, bureaucratic approach. Our vision of a post-bureaucratic age accepts that there is a profound role for the state—not in micro-managing but in creating frameworks to allow problems to be addressed, not in a way which increases demands on the taxpayer. (...) If we could lift people out of multiple deprivation, crime, drugs, worklessness and family breakdown, we would be able, over time, to significantly address the demands society places on the taxpayer."

Polling Data

Some politicians have described Britain as ‘a broken society’. Do you personally believe British society today is broken or not?

When you say that British society is broken which two of these statements come closest to what you have in mind?

Source: YouGov
Methodology: Online interviews with 2,120 British voters, conducted from Jul. 23 to Jul. 25, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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