Transcription
Why do Britons feel the country is broken? Well, I just think the way that people are leading our country, I just don't think it's right. They've got their priorities all wrong.
Why is the electorate so fractured and impatient? I don't think we could have been any more patient with our politicians, to be honest. Look at what the years, look at what we've had for God knows how long, and look at what they've done.
Is the UK simply ungovernable? Of course it's governable. It just needs someone with a with a pair to get back involved and actually be in control. That we believe is credible.
We start our exploration into British discontent in London. A weekend of two protests characterized as rivals, a symptom of polarization. But are the people on these rival marches so different?
First, the pro-Palestinian protesters. "The biggest issue in this country is severe wealth inequality."
Do you think there are people on the other march who have the the same problem about wealth inequality that you have? 100% and they've been tricked to think that it's people coming in boats, brown and black people, who are the problem. People just tend to blame a lot of problems in government and with this country on immigration when it's not. I think it's the competency of the government that people need to focus on a bit more.
Yeah. What do you think are the problems within the country? Inflation, cost of living, things like that, you know what I mean? Yeah. I think also that there is a massive gap between the people in the government body and the actual people they're supposed to govern.
Ali from Chingford in Essex worries his daughter will inherit a less tolerant Britain with growing inequality. There used to be a time when post-Second World War there was investment in infrastructure, in creation of jobs, in creation of wealth for the everyday person. Today the mantra seems to be you'll own nothing, be happy with it, and that's the end.
"think there'll be people on the other march who will list all those same issues that you've just raised?"
"Completely agree. There will be. If we're referring to the the hate march, and they'll refer to us as the hate march, this is the this is the part of the problem, right?"
"So, how have we got this stage where we've got two hate marches with two opposing views on each other, but having essentially the same"
We don't have opposing views. Our views are that that the everyday man deserves a chance.
Half a mile away, the United Kingdom march is reaching Parliament Square. My son, back there, he's a bricklayer. He's got no work. He has no work. It is all Lithuanians in there, and you know, he's got his own little children. He's He's got He's out work after time.
"I'm on the bidding for the council. How long have you been waiting for a 5 years. 5 years. 5 years. So, I'm in a house on a subsidence. I can show you pictures of my subsidence house, and I've got my five children living with me, and the council don't want to help me. But yet, you've got these coming over into England that are getting housing, benefits, money, everything. Like this."
You're feeling forgotten. You're feeling left out. Yes. Exactly that. Yeah. Left out. Sounds like the biggest issue for you, personally,
"is housing. So, why not be on that Go on that Go on a housing march? Where's the help?"
Chelsea is from Sandwell in the West Midlands, where a quarter of the population was born outside of the UK, and demand for social housing has doubled in 3 years. Nationally, available stock is in decline, and the average waiting time for council homes with three or more bedrooms is now nearly 8 years.
Of course, this is an anti-migrant gathering. But would as many people be here if we didn't have a chronic housing shortage? Our contract with the government was we'll pay in social contract that we'll look after our our own people. That that's gone now. Whatever we're spending money on is not being put back into the communities. It's being put into something else. People here will tell you it's immigration. That's a small part of it, but everything's went downhill. You go down here and there's yes and no. It's a war zone. It is and it wasn't like that when I was a kid.
On the face of it, these two marches couldn't be more different. But if you scratch beneath the surface, there are similar themes, disillusionment with government, a sense of injustice, a feeling that the country and people's lives are getting worse. Whatever flag they march under, they feel the government is walking blind.
Two years ago, I took a parliamentary bench across Britain asking people what mattered in the upcoming election. "The cost of rent's tripled in the last few years." "Going to a shop and doing like a weekly shop is just so expensive." "I kind of feel like in a lot of ways I was better off 10 years ago."
From Cornish beaches to Scottish hills to the waterways of Wales, Labour offered a glimmer of hope. "Very comfy. I can see why they nod off in Parliament." "Probably going to go Labour and just go for the safe option and yeah."
"What makes you think they're safe?" "Uh safer than conservatives, I think."
For decades, the Labour vote in Wales has been as solid and dependable as this aqueduct. But we've come back here because in just two years, the political landscape has changed dramatically. The May Welsh Assembly elections were a revolution. Plaid Cymru first, Reform second, Labour crushed.
Two years on, returning to the Telford Inn in Llangollen, we find takings are down 30% even though the next nearest pub is closed. Punters drive here for days out. Less so now with high fuel prices.
Hello, you two. Good to see you. How are you doing? Good to see you again. How are you? I'm very well. Good to see you. It's been a long time now. Two years? It has been two years, yeah. Yeah. I mean, Labour's been here for what, 27 years? Yeah. And all of a sudden, you go around and the farmers are even putting up these things for either Plaid Cymru or Reform. And and it's something that we've never seen.
The whole factor of the insurance is going up, national insurance, who have to pay more for that. The minimum wage, crazy the way we've got to pay a 14-year-old the same as a 17 and a half-year-old. But then the problem also knocks onto the fact that 17-year-old, who's just about to turn 18, says, "Well, I mean, I've been working for 3 years. Why am I earning the same as a 14-year-old?" So they're now asking for more money. So you're now having to put them up to the 18 to 21 bracket. But then the 21-year-old says, "Well, wait a minute. If the 18-year-old" And it's true. I've had this issue already. Yeah. I've had staff say, "Well, wait a minute."
"got wage inflation." "Yeah. And with our own business, and that's just one business. Look at all the businesses. We're all Everyone wants more money all of a sudden. Yeah. No, it doesn't work that way."
But that's exactly what Robert and Sarah's staff want. "With how much everything costs being on the wage that we're on, I don't think it's enough. Mhm. Cuz, you know, you get paid and then your bills come out and then you've got like £100 or whatever you're on to live off for the rest of the month. And me being 19, I want to go out and I want to have a good time with my mates, but I feel a bit restricted from it because of how much everything costs."
But Aaron and Lana know they're lucky to have a job. "I know a lot of people that are struggling to get jobs themselves. Mhm. And like with all the especially hospitality businesses like going bankrupt and closing down." New figures show youth unemployment has climbed 16% with 729,000 16 to 24 year olds currently looking for work. There's fear too that AI will do to jobs what the internet done to the high street.
From Wales we've come to the Wirral. This is Ellesmere Port where there's an unsettling sense of decay. Canvas homes are erected amongst rusted shutters and glass shop fronts offering nothing. This used to be Wilko and then it closed down and turned to Poundland. Pound that Poundland was only there for a month and it just closed down. Back when I was a kid we had everything. Toy shops, clothes shops. Town was booming.
Retailers that remain open are often ones thriving on desperation such as Wayne's pawn shop. "It's definitely a time I see in everyone's struggling. It's not just one type of character. You've got people that you wouldn't expect. You know, people that are working full-time jobs, multiple jobs and they're still having to come in just to make ends meet, pawn a few bits in just to get by. We'll tend to sell the jewelry. Uh we send it off, it gets melted. Everyone makes a bit of money, helps people out in there in this tough time."
But just as our fast-paced shopping habits have turned high streets into ghost towns, have we become too fickle and impatient to give our politicians a chance? The government relies on indicators such as GDP, our economic output, which is actually rising faster than expected. But people aren't feeling it here. Crime is falling, but surveys suggest most people think it's going up. And hospital waiting lists are dropping fractionally, but that still leaves 7 million people waiting.
One of them is Heather. We're now in Leigh, Greater Manchester. This trip to get her scooter serviced might be her only day out this week. A former carer herself, she's lacking in social care and has been on a hospital waiting list over a year now for a new diagnosis. "It does my nothing harder. Just waiting. It's the waiting. Yeah. That's the hardest part, the waiting. Mhm. And then I'm not knowing, but when you know there's something wrong and you can't put your finger on it and they can't put their finger on it, it's like, where do you go next? Mhm. You don't know where to go, you just know there's something not right. No one's listening."
How are the government doing? They're struggling at minute. I'd say for two reasons. First reason is because they're still cleaning up after the conservatives and the second one is because they're dealing with everything that Trump is putting us through. Dealing with all that in Iran. Yeah. And so they've not had enough time to figure out what they can do for our country.
The Health Foundation found those in the wealthiest 10% of areas can expect 20 more years of good health than those in the poorest. More than half of Leigh is in the top 20% of most deprived areas in the UK.
Time may be running out for the Prime Minister. So much of it has already been wasted in British politics. We've ended up in Downing Street in Leigh. The black door has seen better days and nobody is battling to live here. But if you count up the days of leadership challenges, snap elections, six Prime Ministers swapping in and out of the more famous Downing Street over the last decade, we have actually lost more than a year just in contest for number 10. The center ground of politics is crumbling through inaction. People want leadership, direction, and their shift from traditional parties isn't just punishment. It's a cry for help. Jason Farrell, Sky News.