'The Big Society': nice idea...but who will participate? |

Wednesday 14th April 2010 | 15:30

'The Big Society': nice idea...but who will participate?

Voters have offered tentative support to the philosophy behind Cameron's 'Big Society' - but actual likely levels of participation are harder to assess.

After the David Cameron’s speech at the Conservative manifesto launch yesterday, the first opinion research on the topic has been conducted by PoliticsHome.

Results suggest that a narrow majority of the public in principle support the view that ‘the state should do less and community groups should do more to improve the quality of life in this country’. Fifty five per cent agreed with this statement, with forty one per cent disagreeing.

Would people participate?

PoliticsHome put a list of seven key Tory ‘big society’ manifesto proposals to respondents, and asked which they thought they would engage in if they could. Substantial proportions of people said they would be interested in engaging in these initiatives (although of course we cannot be sure how accurately these figures would reflect the actual level of take up).

When people were asked to say which of these ideas they thought would find a high enough level of participation across the country to have a ‘meaningful impact’, slightly smaller - though still significant - numbers were registered.

(The research was conducted online, which may partly account for the high score for checking public services data online)

How much time do people have?

Most people said they would not have more than a few hours per week in which to volunteer. Seventy six per cent of people said that they would have no more than a few hours per week to spare, and nineteen per cent said they would not have any time at all.

PoliticsHome interviewed 1,005 voters from 13-14 April 2010. Results are weighted by age, gender and political party identification to represent the population of Great Britain.

Leave a comment...

Grumpy Old Man

18:55 |
14 Apr 2010
Recommended
2

My opposition to the petition affair is based on the fact that 5% is small enough for the Rentacrowd element infesting all boroughs have too much opportunity to make local government impossible. (and also horrendously expensive) The % should be upped to 30-45%, enough for a significant minority public opinion to be heard, but too large for vexacious politicing.

Jonathan Baldwin

21:36 |
14 Apr 2010
Recommended
1

You only need to look at California, where government is delegated to the people via referenda and "propositions" to see how it paralyses an area, or leads to unrealistic commitments that will never be fulfilled, or to the shameful exclusion of minorities or those with "alternative" lifestyles (as those who propose the rules would term them). 5% is easy to get and this is an idea clearly aimed at groups (Tories) who lose elections but then decide to do everything they can to stop the winning side doing anything. Again, look to the US and the healthcare debate where a minority very nearly put paid to legislation that had been a cornerstone of the winning candidate's election platform. It's a silly idea - government of the apathetic majority by the reactionary few.

Latest on
Conservative Party

Username:
Password:
Remember Me
Forgotten details?

The Live Wire

+What we do...

+Sections

+Explore

+PRO

+On the Go

Find your MP

PoliticsHome Polls

Public opinion today