News

The Independent

29 April 2025

Voters name ‘none of the above’ as most popular candidate before local elections

The most popular political leader is “none of the above” a new poll shows just 36 hours before voters go to the polls in the local elections.

It comes amid rising concerns that Reform UK is on the cusp of a major breakthrough, following “deep disillusionment” with Labour and the Tories.

More In Common executive director UK Luke Tryl said: “The public mood going into these elections is one of deep disillusionment, voters are impatient for change but aren’t confident any party can deliver it. As results trickle in on Friday this polling suggests we will see that the fragmentation of the electorate in last year’s general election has only accelerated since then."

The Daily Mail

15 April 2025

Brits back shutting Chinese firms out of key parts of economy in wake of British Steel chaos

Research by More in Common found two-thirds would prefer to see Beijing-linked companies barred from significant UK defence and communications investments.

Some 60 per cent said the same about the NHS, and 55 per cent about transport and energy.

The survey suggested that Brits would support nationalising British Steel, by a margin of 54 per cent to 14 per cent.

The Times

13 April 2025

Women may not love Nigel Farage, but they’re warming to Reform

Although Farage remains broadly unpopular, there is some evidence that he is becoming detoxified among some women. Back in September, he had an approval rating of minus 10 among men and minus 23 among women — a gap of 13 points. That is now minus 12 and minus 16 respectively, a gap of four points (and if those numbers sound low, remember Sir Keir Starmer’s approval rate with women is minus 34).

What sparked this change? According to More In Common, broad disillusionment with the direction of the country. Women are ten points more likely than men to say things are getting worse in Britain (76 per cent to 65 per cent); Gen X (84 per cent) and baby boomer (86 per cent) women are the most pessimistic. For Reform’s most recent converts, the figure is 93 per cent.

Huffington Post

8 April 2025

Majority Of Brits No Longer Think Of Trump's America As An Ally, Poll Shows

The majority of Brits no longer see the US as an ally to the UK, according to a new poll conducted in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The US president unveiled a series of taxes on foreign imports last week, including a 10% tariff on British goods.

More in Common UK’s executive director Luke Tryl said: “For many Britons, ‘Liberation Day’ threatens to further deteriorate the already strained relationship between our two countries. Less than half of the British public now see the US as an ally.”

The Mirror

3 April 2025

Talking to fathers about paternity pay and shared leave

A new survey for The Dad Shift and Movember by More In Common, found robust support for active fatherhood across all classes and the political spectrum.

In polling, 86% of the public agree "it’s better when both parents have real opportunities to be equally active caregivers to their children" and 75% agree "boys learn more about being a man from how their father cares for and involves themselves in their life” than just from "protecting and providing" alone.

Alex Lloyd Hunter, co-founder of The Dad Shift, says reform is now urgent. "The most important thing fathers can provide their families with, and their boys in particular, is their presence," he says.

The Guardian

27 March 2025

Rachel Reeves swears this is not a return to austerity. What matters is that it feels like one

When more than half of Britons say the country’s either heading back into austerity or has never left it, according to a new report gloomily entitled Doom Loop Deepens from the More in Common thinktank, they’re not thinking of the dictionary definition. What they really mean is a sense that nothing changes, no matter who is in power, and maybe this is just how life is going to be now.

Staggeringly, almost half say they can’t be sure the cost of living crisis will ever end, while seven in 10 think it’s unlikely this government will improve their lives. This depth of pessimism alone is enough to explain why Labour’s poll lead has collapsed, leaving them neck and neck with the still-hated Tories and a Reform party that barely even existed a year ago but that now has every expectation of cleaning up at the coming local elections.