UK White working class 'voiceless'

By: BBC on: 06.03.2008

Many white working class people believe immigration threatens jobs

A majority of white working class Britons feel nobody speaks for people like them, a BBC survey has suggested.
Some 58% said they felt unrepresented compared to 46% of white middle class respondents to a Newsnight poll.

White working classes were also negative about the past decade with 62% saying life had generally become worse in the UK.

In response to BBC Two's White Season, a special Newsnight on 6 March will feature full poll results and debate.

Crime worse

In most areas covered by the survey the white working classes are more pessimistic about the future and more negative about the last decade in Britain than white middle class people.

Of the white working class people questioned 71% believe crime has got worse over the last decade, compared with 66% of middle class white people.

On housing, 80% of the white working classes say that people like them can no longer afford to buy homes in the area they live. A smaller majority - 68% - of middle class people believed they had been priced out of the local housing market.

Overall 62% of the white working classes believe that life in Britain has generally got worse over the last decade compared with 51% of middle class white people.

Continued . . .