Britons trust the European Union (EU) more than parliament, according to a study by the World Values Survey (WVS) and the main findings of which were published by the Guardian.
Since the UK voted for Brexit, the proportion of citizens who trust the British Parliament has plummeted by 10 percentage points, to 22%. Meanwhile, confidence in the European bloc based in Brussels increased by seven percentage points, up to 39%. Confidence in the British government also fell from 2017 to 2021.
The World Issue Prices Survey study explores trust in institutions in 24 countries from Canada to South Korea. These conclusions are likely to increase confidence among advocates of UK-EU relationship building.
The increase in British confidence in the EU also comes after a strong response from EU leaders to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In addition to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s desire to be part of the country.
Only 24% of respondents said they were “happy” that the UK has decided to leave the EU, while 49% said they were disappointed. The results also show that the UK joins the ranks of countries with the least trust in government and parliament, behind only France, Germany, Australia, Iran and China.
“Trust in the UK parliament has halved since 1990,” Bobby Duffy, director of the Institute at King’s College London, told the Guardian. “We are among the countries with the least confidence in government, with more than 20 studies included. Confidence in the police is plummeting, especially in London.
Only 13% of Britons trust British political parties
Only 13% of the population in Britain trust the British political parties. This puts the country on the same level as Brazil, Italy and France, but well behind Norway (36%), Sweden (32%), Canada (24%) and Germany (23%). Also in terms of trust in the British press it ranks 23 out of 24 countries. The media in Mexico, Italy, Russia and Brazil are trusted more than twice.
“Some institutions are doing better, like our judicial and civil service system, which is much better than our political institutions,” Duffy told the Guardian.
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