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People pessimistic about the UK and think it will start breaking up in the next year or so, new research shows

01 Jan 2022 3 minute read
A busy Queen Street in Cardiff. Picture by Jon Candy (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Most people in Britain think that the UK will start to break up in the next year or so, according to an extensive new report by research group BritainThinks.

The company carried out a poll of more than 2,000 people and a series of focus groups and found that people were generally pessimistic about the direction the UK was heading in and said it would break up in the near future.

With ‘don’t knows’ removed, 59% thought that Scotland would vote to become an independent country “in the next year or so”.

Fewer than a third of those polled believed that the UK would be a better place to live in 10 years. BritainThinks found that “the prevailing feelings toward
the UK are apprehension, concern, disappointment and anger.”

One of the six focus groups, held before the Omicron surge, were held in Wales.

“For me this is apprehension or uncertainty. It’s making plans and then finding a month down the line that you can’t do that now and things have changed, things that are out of my control,” said one member of the Welsh focus group.

“COVID is a still a big part of that uncertainty, there are rumours of another lockdown coming.”

Another said: ““I think we’re rapidly losing our sense of community, including national, regional and local communities… it’s going to take a long time to come back together.”

‘Bleak’

The report also identified “real frustration about the economic impacts of Brexit, even from some of those who voted Leave”.

“Now we’re out [of the EU], we haven’t been out a year and we’re already struggling,” one person from Wales said. “We’re not producing enough commodities to support ourselves without going to others for help.”

Raphael Malek, research director at BritainThinks, said that the report showed that there was little confidence in the government’s ability to steer the country through its current challenges.

“After a surge in optimism in the summer as lockdowns lifted, the public mood has turned bleak again — almost back to the depths we saw in late 2020,” he said.

“There is still considerable uncertainty about the pandemic (even prior to the news of the Omicron variant), increasing worry about the cost of living and deep concern about the pressures facing the NHS.”


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Paul
Paul
2 years ago

I hope so. In have waited a lifetime to see my own country become sovereign.

Hogyn y Gogledd
Hogyn y Gogledd
2 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Me too. And I’m nearer 90 than 60 years old.

David
David
2 years ago
  1. Why say pessimistic when optimistic is better!
Aled Rees
Aled Rees
2 years ago

God.I hope I live long enough to see a free wales.
Cymru rhŷdd.

Jack Bryn
Jack Bryn
2 years ago

The UK, as currently assembled, will almost certainly be a better place to live in 10 years time, primarily because it will have ceased to exist. Thus, the component parts – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – will be more in control of their own geographical and political spaces. The problem for us is that we may still be an appendage to England, unless our people wake up and smell the coffee, or the people of England decide that we are an unwanted limb. Either way the next decade will be a period of monumental change.

Argol Fawr
Argol Fawr
2 years ago

With Scotland’s independence pretty sure now, NI on the way to unity with the Ireland, that’ll leave Wales stuck in the cage with rabid England until the penny drops for enough of its legitimate voting population to insists on a referendum and tick Yes.

Last edited 2 years ago by Argol Fawr
Grayham Jones
2 years ago

Yes the UK is finished it’s time for a new wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and Ireland 🇮🇪 have got to be independent we in wales have got to stop being little Englanders and be proud to be welsh kick all English party’s out of wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 start fighting for your children and grandchildren future in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 it’s time for a new wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Ernie The Smallholder
Ernie The Smallholder
2 years ago
Reply to  Grayham Jones

Positive.
Republic of Cymru Wales.

Gareth Wyn Jones
Gareth Wyn Jones
2 years ago

Drop the ‘wales’ completely

Arwyn
Arwyn
2 years ago

Plaid’s policy of Confederation should be pushed to the fore now. It won’t please everyone but I think it’s a vision that can win support in all the British nations and possibly Ireland also. In my experience the majority I speak to favour Welsh autonomy but are fearful of the unknown that independence represents to them. There are precedents to which we can point such as the Nordic Union and Benelux but we should be proposing a bespoke political arrangement in light of our common history and circumstances. This would be a voluntary union of the sort that Welsh Labour… Read more »

Ernie The Smallholder
Ernie The Smallholder
2 years ago
Reply to  Arwyn

The only federation that will work for Wales is membership of the European Union.
As I understand is the SNP and SF policy.

Arwyn
Arwyn
2 years ago

Respectfully I disagree. I did say not everyone would agree 😉. This is not a federal UK that’s being proposed. This is a political agreement between neighbouring Nation States. We’re not currently in the EU. Scotland’s path to membership looks very different to ours or indeed England’s. Consider that Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have an agreement between them as well as membership of the EU. And consider that it is not the indy-confident we need to convince in order to secure our statehood. IMHO the UK is broken. Labour have an intractable political problem in so far as they… Read more »

Gareth Wyn Jones
Gareth Wyn Jones
2 years ago
Reply to  Arwyn

It is far too late for this, why do you think the tories and the Tory press are going disproportionately after him? He is coming around to independence. If Westminster wanted to do what you want they would have done it by now, they are not interested in a federal state, they want absolute power absolutely it is in their DNA

Arwyn
Arwyn
2 years ago

I know precisely what the Tories want. But this is the right policy to unite progressives across the UK and IMHO has the greatest chance of success.

Kerry Davies
Kerry Davies
2 years ago

Interesting that some think that they did in fact “Get Brexit Done” when all I hear is the constant kicking of cans down every available road. They have abandoned new UKCA standards for at least another year, suspended inland customs and veterinary checks and put back chemical regulation to October 2025. Today we are supposed to see a huge raft of new rules due to come into force on trade with Ireland but they were postponed in December as an act of ‘good faith’ by Lord Frost who then immediately quit. I hate to say it but Rees-Mogg may be… Read more »

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
2 years ago
Reply to  Kerry Davies

A mess Rees-Smug caused. But hey, he’ll be okay, having moved his company HQ to Dublin to stay within the 500 million EU market place, not to forgetting his Ministerial wage, MP expenses & perks partly funded by Welsh taxpayers.

And it’s Wales who will suffer the most out of all the nations of the UK post-Brexit. But at least now Brexiteers in Wales will know who to blame. Themselves.

Last edited 2 years ago by Y Cymro
Gareth Wyn Jones
Gareth Wyn Jones
2 years ago
Reply to  Y Cymro

Just remember that a majority who identify as welsh in our country voted to stay in the EU. Of the near 700, 000 that do not, 65% voted to leave tipping the balance

Ernie The Smallholder
Ernie The Smallholder
2 years ago
Reply to  Kerry Davies

Get Wales and Scotland out of the UK and into the EU as soon as possible.

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
2 years ago

The UK will break up because it’s never been an equal Union. Wales although a physical constituent part of Britain, politically has never been a member of this so-called British Union. Just look at its symbolism. Wales has no representation on the Union Flag or Royal Standard. And no matter how many lame excuses are made by the British Unionists or our Conservative Far-Right extremists, who in my eyes are akin to Holocaust deniers, attempt to whitewash and condone English state actions done when they invaded a sovereign country stripping Wales of its nationhood starting between the years of 1277… Read more »

j humphrys
j humphrys
2 years ago
Reply to  Y Cymro

No representation on Imperial symbolism now becomes a plus!
*********** 2022 the struggle continues; Blwyddin Newydd Dda! **********

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
2 years ago
Reply to  j humphrys

I agree.. Ymlaen i ddyfodol gwell! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
2 years ago

A lovely little Spanish deli has opened in Dolgellau, I fear that its success might be endangered by the crazy brexit rules starting today! Mr Gething please do what you can to help all such ventures in Wales to survive…having been so recently introduced to their smashing cheesecake it would be a crime to lose it…Dol has also lately gained a second hand bookshop and a guitar makers too…good luck to all for the new year…

Marc Davies
Marc Davies
2 years ago

The UK’s time is diminishing by the day. Will we be able to gain our freedom or will we be supine and allow London to maintain its rule over us? Time for Welsh people to have a long, hard think about their future.

Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
2 years ago

Actually I’m looking forward to the future, it will be a future free of Westminster.

Erisian
Erisian
2 years ago

With every power-grab and broken promise our hackles rise.
With every slight, with every jibe, with every stupid lie, the Conservative and Unionist Government will bring the breakup of the ‘Union’ ever nearer.

Last edited 2 years ago by Erisian
Martha
Martha
2 years ago

I thought it already had.

Adrian Meagher
Adrian Meagher
2 years ago

If the UK were working for Wales Gwyl Dewi Sant would be a bank holiday in Wales for the last century, or more. Ond dan ni’n aros o hyd (ac o hyd, hyd syrffed!)

Gareth Wyn Jones
Gareth Wyn Jones
2 years ago

I’m 56 will it happen in my lifetime?

Mr Williams
Mr Williams
2 years ago

It’s certainly going to be an interesting few years. I hope we won’t be disappointed.

Rick
Rick
1 year ago

Ah yes join the EU or should I say it’s Russian overlords. Anyone overseas knows that you lot need English money as the backbone of your economy’s, it’s like you expect things to be normal just without London rule as you call it, as soon as you get your ‘freedom’ which is a joke cause last time I checked London doesn’t use you as slaves, you’ll understand how much you where getting from England. I bet the English can’t wait to get rid of you bloodsuckers, you all act as if imperialism is still around which it isn’t but hell… Read more »

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