Half (51%) of the UK public say they think that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is “responsible” for the violent protests that erupted over the UK this summer, nearly the same proportion who blame former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson (54%), according to new research from Savanta.
Four in ten (40%) say Prime Minister Keir Starmer is responsible, behind X/Twitter owner Elon Musk (44%).
Over the first weekend where civil unrest had broadly been curtailed (9-11 August), UK adults were most likely to say that the police (64%) had dealt with the situation well. Half (52%) thought Prime Minister Keir Starmer did well, although nearly four in ten (38%) saying Starmer did badly in managing the situation.
Savanta’s findings suggest that the public thought that those taking part (82%) were most to blame for the civil unrest, with far-right organisations (75%) and social media companies (73%) also seen as responsible. The UK’s immigration policy (64%) was more likely to be seen by the UK public as a cause of the riots than the murders in Southport (59%). Nearly half (46%) of the UK public think immigrants and asylum seekers hold responsibility for the civil unrest, around the same amount as the government (44%).
To stop such civil unrest happening again, the public think the best course of action is for “violent protestors to be charged quickly and given custodial sentence to deter others” (37%), followed by concerns about immigration being addressed (30%). Only one in ten (10%) say economic inequality being addressed will stop civil unrest from happening again in the future.
Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta said,“Now that the dust appears to have settled, it is a good time to get a proper gauge of what the public think of who was responsible for the civil unrest that swept through the UK this summer, and how the government did in response.”
“Contrary to online talking points, the country is broadly more likely to say Keir Starmer did well in managing the situation than not. Our research probably makes grimmer reading for Nigel Farage, who is only behind EDL former leader Tommy Robinson in being seen as ‘responsible’ for the violent protests.”
“The public think that swift justice for violent protestors is the best way to stop them happening again – a course of action being followed by the government. The next thing they think needs to happen is public concerns about immigration being addressed.”
