Young Brits are increasingly wanting Trump-style strongman politics, according to a controversial new government-backed study that has reignited concerns about the fragility of UK democracy.
Commissioned by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the research paints a stark picture: growing numbers of young, working-class Brits are open to the idea of a leader who can sidestep Parliament and elections altogether.
The findings come in the wake of polling earlier this year that suggested more than half of Gen Z would back a leader who ignores democratic norms.
According to the British Election Study, 22 per cent of respondents agreed that “the best way to run the country would be to have a strong leader who does not have to bother with Parliament or elections”.
Educational background proved to be one of the sharpest dividing lines with university graduates being 10 per cent less likely to support authoritarian leaders than those without a degree.
Working-class respondents were also more inclined to favour strong leadership, although lower-income individuals (those earning under £20,000) were less supportive, suggesting financial status doesn’t always translate to populist sympathies.
Perhaps most striking is the finding that those who support strong leaders are not necessarily anti-democratic. Many simply see Parliament as dysfunctional and yearn for decisive action, regardless of the constitutional implications.
It reads: “All over Europe and beyond, strongman leaders have been gaining traction. Leaders such as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Viktor Orban in Hungary or Donald Trump in the United States of America have risen to prominence.
“Once in power, they tend to expand their power through a process of executive aggrandisement – undermining checks and balances designed to limit their arbitrary power.
“This process of executive aggrandisement, and the broader erosion of democratic norms attached to it, rests not only on strongmen leaders seeking more power, but also on citizens supporting their expanded authority.
“That is, the erosion of democratic norms often rests both on ambitious leaders and on citizens who are willing to support them.”