Earlier this month, protests and violent riots erupted across parts of the UK in the aftermath of a stabbing attack that left three girls dead.
Thousands of people took to the streets to protest immigration and fraying public services with some using the opportunity of unrest to act violently.
According to a new More in Common poll, Reform UK voters have a widely difference perception of why people took to the streets to protest and riot compared to other voting groups.
Some 56 per cent of Reform UK voters polled believed protestors had legitimate concerns and worries about immigration to the UK.
Based on what you have seen and heard, which of the following comes closest to your view? The riots and protests are mostly borne out of…
Some 56 per cent of Reform UK voters think the riots were borne out of legitimate concerns over immigration
More in Common
Only 11 per cent of Reform UK voters believe the cause was far-right ideology and racism and 34 per cent said people rioted out of a desire to engage in violence, looting and criminal damage.
Across other political parties, Conservative (25%), Labour (17%), Liberal Democrat (8%) and Green Party (9%) voters believed people rioting had genuine concerns about immigration.
The Green Party (56%) and Labour (42%) voters were most likely to attribute far-right ideology and racism as the driving force behind the rioters in the UK while Liberal Democrats (58%) and Conservatives (51%) blamed a desire to engage in violence, looting and criminal damage.
This means that across all UK voters, the majority (46%) blame a desire to engage in violence followed by far-right ideology and racism (32%) and finally legitimate concerns about immigration (23%).
On whether rioters represent the ‘real Britain,’ a clear majority across all parties see those involved in helping clean up riots as representing the real Britain (87%) including 69 per cent of Reform UK voters.
But when asked another way, on whether rioters are standing up or shaming Britain, the majority of the public (73%) say rioters are shaming Britain, but half of Reform UK voters (50%) see rioters as standing up for Britain.
Furthermore, when asked if people in the riots speak for them, a large majority (86%) say they do not while only 14 per cent say they do.
However, out of all of the political groups, Reform UK voters are most likely to say rioters speak for them with 41 per cent compared to 16 per cent of Tory voters, 14 per cent of Labour voters, 5 per cent of Lib Dems and 3 per cent from the Green Party.
Based on what you have seen and heard, which of the following comes closest to your view? The protestors are…
Half of Reform UK voters think the protestors are Standing up for Britain
More in Common
LATEST FROM MEMBERSHIP:
The leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, has come under fire since the riots as the former head of Counter-Terrorism policing, Neil Basu, suggested that Farage’s social media activity could be investigated for “inciting” rioting.
After three girls were killed in Southport, Farage released a video saying “the truth is being withheld from us”.
But, political commentator Matt Goodwin suggests that it elite class that caused the riots for ignoring people’s concerns about immigration, not Farage.
Goodwin said: “It wasn’t Farage who decimated the very communities that saw the worst rioting last week by ushering in policies like hyper-globalisation, mass immigration, and deindustrialisation; it was the elite class.
“It wasn’t Nigel Farage who at one election after another promised the British people they would lower immigration only to then do the very opposite, essentially gaslighting, lying, and betraying voters; it was the elite class.”
This data was taken from a More in Common poll which surveyed 2,007 GB adults between August 5 and 7, 2024.