Polling published today on trust and House of Lords reform shows that 2024 Reform votersย trust citizen assembly members more, and members of parliament less, than all other voter groups.
2024 Reform voters, polled as part of a wider British poll into trust and citizensโ assemblies, trust citizensโ assembly members to make policy decisions in their best interest eight times more than they do Members of Parliament (69% and 8%, respectively).
Reform won more than 30% of the vote in last Thursdayโs local council elections.
The polling, published today, shows that across all groups, members of citizensโ assemblies are at least four times more trusted than MPs (57% and 13%, respectively)ย to make policy recommendations in their best interest. Outside of Reform voters, women are more likely than men to report this (61% and 54%, respectively) and Britons in the North are more likely than their counterparts (61%) to report this.
The polling was carried out for the Sortition Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation delivering citizens assemblies globally. Sortition Foundation Director James Robertson said:
โPeople donโt trust politicians. People donโt trust the House of Lords. But we do trust each other to make fair decisions. That’s why replacing the House of Lords with a permanent rolling citizensโ assembly appeals to Reform, Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative voters alike.โ
When asked who they would trust more: MPs or members of a citizensโ assembly to make policy recommendations that are in their best interest, 57% of British adults said members of a citizensโ assembly.
More than two-thirds (69%) of those who voted Reform in 2024 would trust citizensโ assembly members more to make policy recommendations in their best interest, according to the polling – with only 8% saying they would trust politicians more with these decisions.
The polling was carried out as part of the 858 campaign to widen civic participation beyond jury service to other forms of decision-making, including replacing the House of Lords with a rolling citizensโ assembly or House of Citizens. Permanent, rolling citizensโ assemblies already exist in Paris, East Belgium and Ireland, and a UK House of Citizens would build on these examples.
Replacing the House of Lords with a rolling citizensโ assembly was the most popular reform option with those polled, with more than a fifth (22%) preferring it to the other reform options including an elected chamber (17%) and removing hereditary peers (14%).
Other results from the polling, which has been carried out annually for the past three years included:
- Replacing the House of Lords with a citizensโ assembly would increase trust in politics for 43% of British adults
- 78% of adults polled, and 90% of Reform voters, said they didn’t trust MPs to tell the truth
- More than four times as many (57%) British adults trust members of a citizensโ assembly to make policy decisions in their best interests than trust MPs to do so (13%)
Robertson said, โIf Labour or Conservatives want to win back Reform and other voters, they should commit to replacing the House of Lords with a rolling citizensโ assembly. People need to see people like them having more say over the decisions which affect them – at both local and national level.โ
David Njoku, a former citizens assembly participant from Bracknell, explained why he thought citizensโ assemblies are popular with the public:
โWhat I saw was people bringing their life experience, speaking just as much as the experts, and everyone respectfully listening to each other. I saw that everyone cares, but that they care from a different angle. We all learned from each other and saw that we can all make a difference. Instead of it being about beating your opponent and gaining power, citizensโ assemblies are all about working together to create solutions.โ
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