Across the country, Britons believe their home areas are a good place to live. 7 in 10 say the city, town or village they call home is a good place to live, and fewer than 1 in 10 say it is a bad place. Those living in Wales are the most likely to believe their area is a good place to live with over 4 in 5 (83 per cent) saying so, while those living in the East Midlands are the least (61 per cent).

Residents of rural areas (84 per cent) and villages (83 per cent) are the most likely to say their areas are good places to live with only 2 and 3 per cent respectively saying they are bad places. People in large towns, on the other hand, are the least likely to say their area is a good spot to live in (60 per cent).

Labour voters are the most likely to like where they live (83 per cent say good versus 5 per cent bad) and Reform voters are the least (70 per cent good and 14 per cent bad) – but this is not too sizable a gap. Millennials are the least likely to say their home area is a good place to live, but still nearly two thirds say this (65 per cent).

Britons are less likely to believe that their home area is a good place to work than to live, with just half saying that where they live is good for work. Only two thirds (66 per cent) of those who say their home area is a good place to live also say it is a good place to work. 17 per cent say it is neither good nor bad for work, 7 per cent say it is bad, and 10 per cent “don’t know”.

Londoners are the second least likely to say their area is a good place to live, but the second most likely to say it is a good place to work (64 per cent), trailing Wales by a point (65 per cent).

There is a significant party split – just under half of Reform voters (47 per cent) say their area is good for work with nearly 1 in 5 (19 per cent) saying it is bad. Compared to Labour, the number saying their area is good for work increases 16 points to 63 per cent and those saying it is bad over halves to 7 per cent.

Rural Britain is better to live in but worse for work

Those living in rural areas are more likely than urban Britons to see a difference in how good their area is to live in versus to work in. The number of villagers that say their area is good for work (40 per cent) is half the number who say it is good to live in (83 per cent). Those living in urban areas and city centres, on the other hand, are only slightly less likely to say their area is good for work (68 per cent) than to live in (74 per cent).

The country is split on multiculturalism

53 per cent of Britons say they prefer to live in a community with more people from different cultural backgrounds and 47 per cent prefer living in communities where most come from the same cultural background.

While Reform voters prefer living in less multicultural communities, Conservatives are split with 53 per cent favouring less multiculturalism, and Labour (69 per cent), Liberal Democrat (63 per cent) and Green (76 per cent) voters all clearly prefer more multicultural communities.

Britons say immigration levels have been too high in recent years

Over 7 in 10 (72 per cent) of Britons say immigration levels have been too high in recent years with nearly half the country (48 per cent) saying it has been much too high. Less than 1 in 5 believe levels have been about right (17 per cent) and only 3 per cent say too low.

Supporters of all major parties are more likely to think immigration levels have been too high than the right amount or too low. Green voters are the least likely to say immigration levels have been too high, but still, 43 per cent believe this, marginally higher than the combined number who think levels have been correct or too low (41 per cent).

Half the country says immigration protests are justified

Half the public (51 per cent) say it is justified for people who are unhappy with immigration levels to the UK to take part in protests, while 1 in 5 (19 per cent) say this is unjustified. Another fifth say they are neither justified nor unjustified and 1 in 10 (9 per cent) don’t know.

Across all major parties, bar the Greens, voters are more likely to say protests are justified. Nearly half of current Labour voters (48 per cent) say immigration protests are justified, with just a quarter (24 per cent) saying they are unjustified.

Generationally, the youngest and oldest Britons align on being the least likely to view immigration protests as justified. Over half of Millennials (51 per cent), Gen X (56 per cent) and Baby Boomers (54 per cent) say protests over immigration levels are justified. However, this falls to 41 per cent for Gen Z and 34 per cent for the Silent Gen. The Silent Gen are also the only generation that lean towards saying immigration protests are unjustified (36 per cent versus 34 per cent).

Those who feel that their home area is a good place to live and work are more likely to be open to multiculturalism and be less concerned about immigration levels

Two thirds of those who say their area is bad to live in (66 per cent) say immigration has been much too high in recent years, 20 points higher than those who say their area is good to live in (46 per cent). Over 4 in 10 (43 per cent) of those who think their area is bad to live in say immigration protests are completely justified versus just a quarter among those whose area is “good” to live in.