The former Conservative Home Secretary Sir Sajid Javid has warned the UK is at risk of riots and violence seen in last year’s rampage.
A new report published on Tuesday warns the UK is a “powder keg” and Britain is “sitting on a tinderbox of disconnection and division.”
The UK is stuck in a “doom loop” of a division, inaction and the lack of social contact, the report reveals.
The report entitled “The State of Us” warned the Despite cost-of-living crisis, Brits motivated most by work-life balance cost-of-living crisis, the government’s managing of the immigration crisis has caused most of the country “don’t trust politicians” and the rise of online extremism can no longer be ignored, the Mirror reported.
Jake Puddle, senior researcher at British Future said, “We are facing a long, hot summer, with a powder keg of tensions left largely unaddressed from last year that could easily ignite once again.
“People are unhappy about their standard of living and the state of their local area, and don’t trust politicians to sort it out.”
The Mirror reported, a foreward to the report Javid and the former Labour MP John Cruddas jointly wrote, “These forces are converging into something altogether more dangerous – leaving the UK sitting on a tinderbox of disconnection and division.
Puddle said, “Public concerns about immigration and asylum can also be a flashpoint.
“That’s only made worse when people have little contact with new arrivals, where public voices exacerbate division, and where governments fail to support or consult communities in their plans for asylum accommodation.”
The report insists, “The visible lack of control in the Channel, along with tensions around accommodation sites and a highly polarised political debate, has contributed to more negative views on asylum.
“This is exacerbated by a heated media and online debate, along with limited opportunities for people to meet and interact with new arrivals.”
The two former MPs said the countries pride and stance within communities make the UK “better placed than many other countries to weather the storm.”
Kelly Fowler, chief executive of the Belong Network, who is behind the research said, “Good work is happening across the UK on cohesion and community strength, but it is patchy and often confined to areas of high diversity or where tensions have spilled over into unrest.
A lack of sustained funding limits its impact. It’s time this issue was treated with the urgency it merits, in every part of Britain. We must not wait for more riots to happen.”
