Immigration was seen by 58 percent of people in the UK as one of the top three issues facing the country in September 2025. The economy was the second-most important issue for voters this month, ahead of health as a distant third. These three issues have consistently been identified as the most important issues for voters. Labour's popularity continues to sink in 2025 Despite winning the 2024 general election with a strong majority, the new Labour government has had its share of struggles since coming to power. Shortly after taking office, the approval rating for Labour stood at -2 percent, but this fell throughout the second half of 2024, and by January 2025 had sunk to a new low of -47 percent. Although this was still higher than the previous government's last approval rating of -56 percent, it is nevertheless a severe review from the electorate. Among several decisions from the government, arguably the least popular was the government withdrawing winter fuel payments. This state benefit, previously paid to all pensioners, is now only paid to those on low incomes, with millions of pensioners not receiving this payment in winter 2024. Sunak's pledges fail to prevent defeat in 2024 With an election on the horizon, and the Labour Party consistently ahead in the polls, addressing voter concerns directly was one of the best chances the Conservatives had of staying in power in 2023. At the start of that year, Rishi Sunak attempted to do this by setting out his five pledges for the next twelve months; halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce national debt, cut NHS waiting times, and stop small boats. A year later, Sunak had at best only partial success in these aims. Although the inflation rate fell, economic growth was weak and even declined in the last two quarters of 2023, although it did return to growth in early 2024. National debt was only expected to fall in the mid to late 2020s, while the trend of increasing NHS waiting times did not reverse. Small boat crossings were down from 2022, but still higher than in 2021 or 2020. .

As of July 2025, the economy was seen as the most important issue facing the UK according to young voters (aged between 18 and 24). Compared with the overall population, housing and health were seen as more important issues than immigration, which was the joint-second most important issue for the general population.

A 2024 survey found that over half of individuals in Great Britain indicated that access to treatment and long waiting times were the biggest problem facing the national healthcare system. Access to treatment and/or long waiting times were also considered to be pressing issues. This statistic reveals the share of individuals who said select problems were the biggest facing the health care system in Great Britain in 2024.

This statistics shows the most important issues facing Great Britain according to an opinion poll among British adults in Great Britain during June of 2017. Of the respondents, ** percent reported they believed Britain leaving the EU (Brexit) to be the greatest issue their country was faced. National defense and security issues were a cause for concern to ** percent of respondents, while ** percent of respondents believed the current state of the healthcare system to be worrisome. Furthermore, issues concerning immigration and asylum policies were viewed as most important by ** percent of respondents.

Dataset - Social problems in the UK : an introduction in the news

The British Gambling Prevalence Survey is a large-scale nationally representative survey of participation in gambling and the prevalence of problem gambling in Great Britain.

The aims of the survey series are:

• measure the prevalence of participation in all forms of commercial and private gambling (including estimates of expenditure and information on venue)
• estimate the prevalence of ‘problem gambling’ and look at which activities have the highest prevalence of ‘problem gamblers’
• investigate the socio-demographic factors associated with gambling and with ‘problem gambling’
• assess attitudes towards gambling

Further information about the series can be found on the Gambling Commission's British Gambling Prevalence Surveys web pages.
British Gambling Prevalence Survey, 1999 is the first survey in the series. The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) was commissioned by GamCare to carry out the first-ever survey of the Lottery and other gambling activities in Britain. GamCare is a national charity that promotes responsible gambling and monitors the social impact of gambling. In 1999, after the National Lottery was created and a wide range of gambling activities were available, this study was designed to find out who gambles, and on what. Most people enjoy gambling, and do so within sensible limits. A small number, however, get into severe problems with their gambling. Therefore an important aspect of this survey was to examine rates of problem gambling among the British population and to assess which gambling activities cause problems and for whom.

Sections distribution - Social problems in the UK : an introduction in the news

Data on what people in Great Britain think are the most important environment issues facing Great Britain as of ********** shows that according to data published by IPSOS, ** percent of respondents advised that dealing with waste is one of the top three environmental issues facing Great Britain, the most of any category. By contrast, only ***** percent of respondents believe soil erosion to be an important environmental issue.

Sources distribution - Social problems in the UK : an introduction in the news

Momentum for significant progress towards a nuclear weapons-free world to reduce long-term nuclear risk is now a political reality fully supported by the UK. It is widely acknowledged that devaluing nuclear weapons in the security policies of the nuclear weapon states is an essential process along the road to nuclear disarmament. But nuclear weapons remain highly valued by a number of states for variety of reasons and the concept of 'devaluing' nuclear weapons is contested. This project will develop a deeper understanding of the concept of devaluing nuclear weapons and critically assess the political and practical prospects and challenges of implementing significant devaluing steps. The research will focus on the UK as the nuclear power best placed and most inclined to adopt further devaluing steps in the context of the ongoing debate on Trident replacement and the concept of 'minimum deterrence' in UK nuclear policy discourse. It will examine devaluing measures advocated by non-nuclear weapon states, and two case studies exploring the effects on conceptions of the value of nuclear weapons of the negotiation of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the 1996 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the threat and use of nuclear weapons.

Evolution, trends - Social problems in the UK : an introduction in the news

AimsThe aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence and temporal trend of common mental health problems (CMHPs) in the UK by industrial classification from 2012–2014 to 2016–2018 while evaluating the corresponding gender disparities.MethodsWe used data from the Health Survey for England. CMPH was judged by a 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Industrial classifications were defined using the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities. Data were fitted by the logistic models.ResultsIn this study, 19,581 participants covering 20 industries were included. In total, 18.8% of participants screened positive for CMHP in 2016–2018, which significantly increased from 16.0% in 2012–2014 [adjusted OR (AOR) = 1.17, 95% CI 1.08–1.27]. In 2016–2018, the prevalence of CMHP ranged from 6.2% in the industry of mining and quarrying to 23.8% in the industry of accommodation and food service activities. From 2012–2014 to 2016–2018, none of the 20 industries studied experienced significant decreases in the above prevalence; conversely, three industries saw significant increases, including wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (AOR for trend = 1.32, 95% CI 1.04–1.67), construction (AOR for trend = 1.66, 95% CI 1.23–2.24), and other service activities, which cannot be classified (AOR for trend = 1.94, 95% CI 1.06–3.55). In total, 11 of the 20 industries studied had significant gender disparities against women, with the smallest gap being in the industry of transport and storage (AOR = 1.47, 95% CI 1.09–2.0) and the highest in the industry of arts, entertainment, and recreation (AOR = 6.19, 95% CI 2.94–13.03). From 2012–2014 to 2016–2018, gender disparities were narrowed only in two industries, including human health and social work activities (AOR for trend = 0.45, 95% CI 0.27–0.74), and transport and storage (AOR for trend = 0.5, 95% CI 0.27–0.91).ConclusionThe prevalence of CMHPs has increased and had a wide variation across industries in the UK. There were disparities against women, and the gender disparities have been keeping almost no improvement from 2012–2014 to 2016–2018.

Labour shortages are hitting UK industries, even as unemployment stays low. Explore the disconnect between workforce headlines and reality, and what it means for business leaders.

This paper studies the effect of a single-issue referendum on political party realignment. We consider the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom in the aftermath of a referendum on the British exit from the European Union. We look at the change in positions of Conservative Members of Parliament using a novel dataset tracking their opinions on British membership of the EU and their election outcomes between 2015 and 2022. Our findings show that MPs who resisted switching to a pro-Leave position faced significantly higher electoral losses. We then consider various models of switching, showing that safe seats are strong predictors. These results highlight the sensitivity of political parties to single-issue politics, underscoring how such environments can contribute to broader populist movements in modern democracies.