Suffering together through a pandemic has made Britain a less divided country, a report found.
At the beginning of the pandemic, 60% of people questioned by pollsters ICM agreed that the UK had never felt so divided in their lifetimes.
But just three months later, only 45% of Brits said they felt that way.
The research was commissioned to promote today’s launch of what is believed to be the largest survey of the British public since the 2011 census.
Organised by Together, it will ask how the spirit of communities coming together during the lockdown can be maintained as restrictions are eased.
Called Talk/together, the survey will include an online poll plus discussion groups throughout the country.
Its organisers hope it will help bridge what they describe as “the angry divisions of the past”.
But a report for Together, a coalition of community and national groups aiming to build a kinder, closer and more connected country, warns new divisions could emerge as the lockdown eases.
In a foreword to the report, entitled Remembering the Kindness of Strangers, the Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, writes: “We are entering a period of deep economic uncertainty, one that will heighten existing inequalities and strain our society further still.”
The Bishop, who chairs the Together board of trustees, adds: “We must start to disagree better: recognising and respecting our differences while remembering our common humanity.”
The new ICM research showed 14 million people joined in 2020’s final Clap for Carers on July 5, to mark the NHS’s 72nd birthday.
ICM polled 2,000 people in March, then again in May and June. It found a strong initial feeling of togetherness – which started to fragment as restrictions eased.
The survey also found that people liked the new connectedness and community spirit that developed at this most difficult of times, and want to keep hold of it.
Yet the research also finds that much of our sense of division has not gone away, with 62% agreeing that “as a society, we have lost the ability to discuss politics without getting angry and abusive”.
We’re also a bit Zoomed-out, with three-quarters of people agreeing that connecting online is no substitute for interacting with people face-to-face.
Almost two-thirds – 61% – say we dwell on our differences rather than what we have in common, but that is down from 70% in March.
A vast majority – 80% – agree it is important to meet people who are different from themselves.
But only just over a quarter – 27% – often get to meet people from a different background.
And sport brings us together like nothing else.
National sporting events such as the Euros or Olympics – both cancelled this year due to Covid – help bring people together, according to two-thirds of people (67%).
Bishop Baines said: “Talk/together is a conversation that everyone can be part of – about what unites and divides us.”
Jill Rutter, author of the report and Director of Strategy for British Future, said: “There’s a risk that past divides are re-emerging as society starts to re-open.
“The shared experience of lockdown made many people feel more connected to their neighbours and local community. Now that sense of togetherness is starting to fray. The good news is that people would rather we kept hold of it and talk/Together aims to find out how we can do that.”
- To take part in the new survey go to together.org.uk/survey
