Unequal Britain

• Britons across the political spectrum care about disparities between deprived and better-off areas, chiming with the government’s focus on “levelling up”.
• Views on inequalities between different ethnic groups are comparatively more divided.
• Gender equality comes low on the country’s list of priorities.
• Britons’ focus on hard work and ambition means they tend to have a relatively unforgiving view of those who have lost their jobs during the crisis.
• Appetite for change to tackle inequalities is still strongly influenced by people’s pre-existing political beliefs, indicating the pandemic has not shifted views.

Unequal Britain

• Unequal Britain (2.08 MB PDF)

Geographical inequalities are an unexpected – and unifying – top source of concern

• Inequalities between more and less deprived areas (61%), along with disparities in income and wealth (60%), are seen as the most serious type of inequality in Britain.
• This indicates the strength of potential support for the government’s “levelling up” agenda – it very much fits with the public’s own priorities, almost regardless of background.
• Area-based inequalities are the only form of inequality about which Labour (67%) and Conservative voters (59%) have comparably high levels of concern. This concern also cuts across Brexit divides, suggesting that a policy emphasis on such inequalities could be relatively unifying.Among people who expect inequality to rise as a result of the pandemic, 84% anticipate that disparities between more and less deprived areas will increase – the top answer given – again reflecting the high level of concern the public have about this issue.

But attitudes towards other forms of inequality, particularly between different ethnic groups, are much more divided

• Conservative voters (32%) are around half as likely as Labour voters (62%) to see inequalities between people of different ethnicities as one of the most serious forms of inequality.
• Nearly two-thirds of the public (63%) say it would be a problem if the gap in incomes between white people and ethnic minorities grew as a result of the coronavirus crisis – but a quarter (23%) say they wouldn’t consider it a problem.
• Half of Britons (47%) say that discrimination helps explain why black people have lower earnings, but one in eight (13%) think this is a result of black people lacking motivation or willpower. Conservative (21%) and Leave voters (21%) are far more likely than Labour (4%) and Remain voters (6%) to believe this explanation. However, this is much lower than similar data from the US, where a 2018 survey found 36% of people say that a lack of motivation holds black Americans back.

And growing gender inequality following Covid-19 is a much lower concern

• Among people who think inequality will increase as a result of the pandemic, 17% expect disparities between men and women to grow – far fewer than the proportion who expect any other inequalities to worsen. This is despite evidence of adverse labour market consequences for women in Britain resulting from the crisis.
• And of all the types of inequality between different groups in society, the public are least concerned about income inequality between genders getting worse because of the crisis – a third (32%) actively say they would not consider it a problem if this were to happen.

On top of significant variations in opinion, meritocratic and individualistic tendencies also temper calls for action on inequality

• Nearly half – 47% – say that an individual’s performance at work is important in determining whether they lost their job at this time, compared with 31% who say luck is an important factor. By 57% to 39%, Conservative voters are much more likely than Labour voters to attribute these job losses to poor performance at work.

All of this means that while there is some appetite for change, it does not reach a level of support that unifies across political and demographic divides

• 55% of Britons think the crisis means there is more need for the government to take measures to reduce differences in income levels, compared with 15% who disagree – however, there are important differences in opinion between voters for the two main parties, with Conservative voters (41%) far less likely than Labour voters (77%) to agree.
• But at the same time, the public are relatively divided on whether the government’s support for workers and businesses during the pandemic strengthens the case for more intervention in the economy in the future: 45% believe it does, while 36% believe this kind of intervention should just be a one-off – and attitudes are hugely affected by existing political views and age. For example, two-thirds of Labour Remainers believe the crisis justifies more intervention, compared to only one in five Conservative Leavers.
• And linking the coronavirus crisis to the case for redistributing income from the better-off to the less well-off appears to have little impact on support. Only 8% of those who disagree with government redistributing income in general go on to agree there is more need for it now in light of the pandemic.

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