Event

Exploring today’s attitudes for tomorrow’s election

This year's British Social Attitudes survey explores the public's attitudes in a post-Brexit, post-pandemic society.

Event time:

27th June 2024 13:30 – 15:00
Format:

online

On 27^th June, the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) publishes the results of its latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey. For over 40 years, we have been charting people's social, political and moral attitudes, reporting on what they feel it is like to live in Britain, and examining how well they think the country is run.

Britain has experienced unprecedented levels of change and disruption since the last General Election in 2019. The UK has withdrawn from the European Union, suffered a global pandemic, witnessed the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, endured the highest level of inflation since the 1970s, lost its longest ever reigning monarch, and been led by three different Prime Ministers.

As the country anticipates another General Election, this year’s British Social Attitudes will analyse the impact of these developments on public opinion, assess whether the contours of public opinion have been fundamentally reshaped, and consider the implications of its findings for the challenge facing the parties at the next election. Has the public’s faith in how they are governed been shaken? Have voters’ expectations of what government should do changed? What now divides Conservative and Labour supporters? Are attitudes to immigration changing and does it remain a polarising issue? And do voters’ perceptions of what it means to be British now look different from in the past?

Join us at this online event to hear what researchers working on British Social Attitudes have to say about the latest findings and participate in an engaging and topical discussion.

Speakers

Natalie Maplethorpe

Research Director National Centre for Social Research

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Natalie is a Research Director in the household team and currently leads the Survey of Londoners and the European Social Survey. She returned to NatCen in 2021 after working for M&C Saatchi World Services and Plan International. In her previous role at NatCen she managed a number of large-scale quantitative projects including the National Diet and Nutrition Survey and a studies of sodium intake in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

She has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Warwick and a MSc in Social Research Methods from the University of Surrey.
Sir John Curtice

Senior Research Fellow National Centre for Social Research

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Sir John Curtice is Senior Research Fellow at NatCen, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, and Chief Commentator on the What UK Thinks: EU and What Scotland Thinks websites.

He has been a regular contributor to the British Social Attitudes Report series since 1986 and an editor since 1994. He has also been a Co-Director of the Scottish Social Attitudes survey since its foundation in 1999, and his analyses of Scottish public opinion in the run up to the independence referendum were frequently featured throughout the campaigns.

In 2018, he received a knighthood in the New Year's Honours list.

Sir John is a regular media commentator on both British and Scottish politics. He is also President of the British Polling Council.
Jane Green

Professor of Political Science and British Politics

Jane Green is a British political scientist and academic. She is Professor of Political Science and British Politics at the University of Oxford and a professorial fellow of Nuffield College. She is a specialist in public opinion and electoral behaviour, and has co-directed the British Election Study. She is the president of the British Polling Council.
Sunder Katwala

Director of British Future British Future

Sunder Katwala is the director of British Future. He has previously worked as a journalist. He was general secretary of the Fabian Society think tank from 2003 to 2011, and was previously a leader writer and internet editor at the Observer, a research director of the Foreign Policy Centre and commissioning editor for politics and economics at the publisher Macmillan. He celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary with his wife, Stacy, in 2011, and is the proud father of four children, Zarina, Jay, Sonny and Indira. His support for Everton and Southend United football clubs reflects an upbringing in Cheshire and Essex, though he was born in Doncaster, Yorkshire, to parents who came to Britain from India and Ireland, to work for the NHS.