Hope Not Hate survey paints a bleak picture of a fractured nation
Trust in politics is collapsing – providing the far right with the space to prey on people’s anger and frustration.
That’s the headline finding of a major study into hate groups operating throughout the UK.
The research, conducted by Hope Not Hate, paints a worrying picture of a country becoming increasingly divided.
Authors say this division is likely to increase over the coming year, whatever the Brexit outcome.
A toxic mix of austerity fuelled desperation and the way the political class has handled Brexit – and in some cases has deliberately stoked tensions – has created a breeding ground for extremist groups and fascist ideas.
Hope says that 68% of people now say there is no party which speaks for them and 55% think the political system is broken.
While this could lead to gains for progressive and left wing ideas, it is the far right which has been quickest to exploit the situation, successfully tapping into political rage.
A narrative of “traitors” and “betrayal” dominates its discourse, along with the use of conspiracy theories.
It finds a ready means of dissemination through social media.
While traditional fascist and neo-nazi groups like the BNP and the NF have declined, there has been a growth in even more violent, conspiracist groups, with membership of the far right becoming more extreme and younger.
There has been a corresponding increase in the potential for terrorism, whether from no banned groups such as National Action/Scottish Dawn or lone actors.
These groups do much of their trade online – and five of the 10 far right activists with the biggest social media reach in the world are British.
The internet has also been exploited by the likes of Stephen Yaxley Lennon, a far right activist who – under the pseudonym of Tommy Robinson – has created a considerable profile for himself.
Hope reckons that almost 60% of 18-24 year olds have watched one of his videos.
Lennon sprang from the more street-based milieu of the anti-Muslim English/Scottish Defence League.
This movement is on the decline, with several attempts at organising in Scotland ending in embarrassing failure. However, it has recently appeared again through the Football Lads Alliance and the Free Tommy movement, which sprang up around Lennon.
Parallel to this has been a lurch by the UK Independence party to the far right.
Meanwhile, anti-Muslim prejudice, whipped up by the so-called ‘respectable right’ and sections of the mainstream media, has replaced immigration as a key driver of far right growth.
After six years of increasingly positive views, the Hope survey finds that attitudes towards immigration are deteriorating.
Nick Lowles, chief executive of Hope Not Hate, said that unless far right ideas are challenged wherever and whenever they appear, they will continue to grow in 2019.
He said: “There is a sense that the political system is broken, that there is a democratic deficit, and that elites and the establishment do not speak for ordinary people has charged populist far-right movements across the world.
“When people feel that the system is broken, they look outside of the traditional system where the far-right has capitalised on these fears, offering simplistic answers based on nation and race for complex problems.
“The UK is facing a crisis of mistrust, and a growth in anti-politics sentiment. Our most recent polling, from February 2019, shows a massive 55% of people think that our political system is broken.
“A feeling of distance from the political system has grown as the Brexit negotiations have gone on, with many feeling they are not represented by the political system.”
