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Regaining momentum in a polarised, distrustful country will be a huge challenge for Labour

After a rocky start to his Premiership, Starmer launched a “reset” in December, but will voters listen?

 

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Labour's Challenge - MHP Polarisation Tracker Wave 8

For this edition of the MHP Polarisation Tracker, we have focused on the question of how polarisation will shape ​the Labour Party’s first term in power for 14 years.

Since the Tracker began in 2021, some key themes have emerged. ​

  • A distrust of elites and institutions – and a corresponding concern about a basket of topics, from media reliability and censorship, to brand activism and the role of AI in our lives.
  • The emergence of Net Zero as a focal point for elite distrust.
  • The gradually declining power of Brexit as a source of polarisation.​

This is the first wave to be conducted during a Labour government, so we wanted to see what’s changed. What did we learn?

Wave 8 of the MHP Polarisation tracker was produced in partnership with Cambridge University Political Psychology Lab.

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