News

The Times

10 February 2025

Diversity is the future — better get used to it

Trevor Phillips: Donald Trump is trampling DEI initiatives but, virtue-signalling silliness apart, companies see value in reflecting changing Britain.

In spite of the many widely recycled examples of progressive overreach, DEI is seen as a plus by most employees. Recent research by the polling company More In Common found that by a margin of 46 per cent to 28 per cent, British workers thought DEI programmes delivered fairer outcomes. Even among “Backbone Conservative” voters, DEI is supported by 39 per cent to 29 per cent.

The Independent

8 February 2025

Top pollster says Farage’s Reform challenge is real

Leading polling experts Professor John Curtice, Lord Hayward and Luke Tryl explain why the surge in support for Reform UK, coupled with a historic collapse for Labour, is a genuine trend in British politics.

Mr Tryl of More In Common said, “There’s no doubt Reform have momentum and we are seeing people who had previously been in the ‘I like Farage but I don’t think he should be PM’ camp now saying, ‘well, we may as well roll the dice given Labour haven’t delivered and Tories had 14 years’.

“But that places a few tests on Reform – what’s the wider policy programme? Can they find the candidates? And, crucially, is 25 per cent a new ceiling?”

The Economist

29 January 2025

The rise of the Net-Zero Dad

Although middle-aged men might care a bit less about the problem, they are often much keener on the solution. When it comes to adopting green measures, whether it be installing a heat pump, driving an electric vehicle or running the tumble dryer at 4am, it is middle-aged men who lead the way. The supposed villains of the climate transition are the heroes. The hour of the Net-Zero Dad has come.

Heat pumps are only the most prominent example; middle-aged men with kids are among the keenest on installing a heat pump, according to More In Common.

The Times

28 January 2025

Starmer is sinking faster than soggy Sunak

The prime minister’s personal approval ratings are even lower than his predecessor’s as Tories shambled towards defeat.

As well as asking its question on approval, More in Common asked for a single word to describe the prime minister. It then produced a wordcloud featuring most prominently those words used most often. The cloud is dominated by the word “useless”, although “bad” and “liar” don’t do badly. There are hardly any positive descriptions. There is a medium sized “good”, which is a little smaller than “incompetent” and a little bigger than “idiot”. There is also a tiny “hopeful”, which is roughly the same size as “clueless”.

The Telegraph

27 January 2025

Ban under-16s from social media, says majority of public

Poll shows 75 per cent want minimum age for accessing social media sites to be raised from 13.

Luke Tryl, the UK director of More in Common, said: “Support for raising the age at which young people can use social media to 16 is pretty much as close to a slam dunk as you can get in public opinion popularity terms.

“This is a Government that desperately needs public opinion and policy wins – and raising the age of access to social media would be one of them.”

the i

16 January 2025

There's a good reason why Tories are more likely to be traitors

More in Common's polling reveals that viewers of the BBC show "Traitors" are divided along political lines. Viewers who identified as "faithful," perhaps those who would prefer to play the game honestly and collaboratively, were significantly more likely to align with the Labour Party. If these “faithful” viewers alone could vote in an election, that would be a historic landslide for Labour - with the largest lead in national polling the party has ever seen.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives hold a significant lead among viewers who would prefer to play as 'traitors'.

Associate Director Ed Hodgson discusses what these findings can tell us about Britons' political values and social psychology.