Starmer under pressure ‘to get a grip’ of the rioting as ‘it continues into its second week’

Two thirds (67%) of the public are “concerned” about the rise of the far-right in the United Kingdom (UK) with voters across the political spectrum more likely to say they are concerned than not – except for Reform UK voters, according to new research from Savanta.

Three quarters (75%) of 2024 Labour voters, two thirds (64%) of 2024 Conservative voters and 80% of 2024 Liberal Democrat voters say they are concerned about rise of the far-right, in research conducted (2-4 August) the weekend after violent disorder broke out in towns and cities across the UK.

2024 Reform UK voters are the only major UK party’s supporters who are more likely to say they are not concerned (58%) than concerned (37%) at the rise of the far-right in this country. One in ten (11%) of the public say they don’t know.

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There is a similar picture of voter concerns about the increased popularity of far-right parties across Europe, with Reform UK voters (36%) much less likely to say they are concerned than Labour (71%), Conservative (64%) and Liberal Democrat (84%) voters.

Voters are much more split on the question of whether the politics of the far-left (17%) or the far-right (28%) posed more of a threat to democracy in the UK. This is driven by Reform UK (41%) and Conservative (27%) voters more likely to say the far-left is more of a threat, compared to Labour (38%) and Liberal Democrat (35%) voters more likely to say the far-right.

The largest block of voters (39%) say that both the far-left and the far-right are equally a threat to UK democracy, while only 4% are of the opinion that neither are.

Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta said, “There has been near-universal condemnation of the violent disorder that we have sadly seen on our streets over the last week, in no small part because that is what voters demand and expect.

“However, our research suggests that Nigel Farage may have to make a different set of political calculations to other party leaders, with only a third of his voters concerned about the rise of the far right, compared to two thirds of Conservative voters.”

“The people who voted for Keir Starmer are some of the most likely to say that they’re concerned about the far-right here and across Europe. This puts additional pressure on his government to get a grip of the situation as soon as possible, as unrest continues into its second week.”