UCL Constitution Unit – Professor Alan Renwick, Professor Ben Lauderdale, Professor Meg Russell & James Cleaver

The Constitution Unit has published the findings of a second major survey investigating citizens’ attitudes to how democracy should function in the UK. It found that trust in politicians is low and the health of the UK democracy matters as much to voters as issues such as crime and immigration.

The report also found that most voters think stronger mechanisms are needed to ensure politicians follow the rules, with four out of five saying the current system needs reform so that politicians who do not act with integrity can be punished. There was overwhelming support for stronger independent regulators, with a majority wanting an independent regulator to be able to launch its own investigations into alleged ministerial wrongdoing.

The report looked at responses from over 4,000 people who were representative of the UK voting age population, conducted in August and September 2022 during the final stages of the Conservative leadership contest.