Majority says Britain heading in wrong direction

Seven out of ten of every black person living in Britain believe that the country is heading in the wrong direction, but their views, captured in a poll commissioned by The Voice , were canvassed before Tony Blair made way for Gordon Brown as prime minister.

But even as black people worry about the future, expressing concern particularly over racism, crime and the perceived poor performance by the government, two-thirds of them say they are glad either they, their parents or foreparents emigrated to Britain.

Ironically, though, over a quarter of blacks feel that the wave of immigration into the UK from new European Union members states is bad for Britain, while about a third is lukewarm to the influx. Only 31 per cent is unequivocal that the immigration is a good thing.

600 black people

The poll, perhaps the most comprehensive testing black views in nearly two decades, was conducted in late March, by US-born, Caribbean-based pollster Bill Johnson. He used a sample of 600 black people for the survey that has a margin of error of plus or minus four per cent.

In among perhaps the most startling findings of the survey, a mere 17 per cent of black said the country is heading in the right direction, a little over four times less than those who think otherwise.

Black people of Caribbean descent are substantially more likely than their African and black British counterparts to be concerned about the direction of the country. Seventy-four per cent of West Indians say things are awry, against two-thirds (66 per cent) of UK blacks and 63 per cent of Africans.

Racism (28 per cent), crime and violence (26 per cent) and disenchantment with government policies (14 per cent) accounted for the top-three lots in the scale of why black people feel the country is heading in the wrong direction. However, when people were asked separately about the most pressing problem facing the country, the plurality (47 per cent) said crime, far outstripping the 12 per cent who put racism at the top of the list.

Happy

For those reasonably happy with the direction of the country, they mostly cite improvements in their personal circumstances and a better racial environment.

Noticeably, this pessimism cut across gender, age and regions, although women (72 per cent) are slightly more negative than men (67 per cent), as are people in their mid-20s to mid-30s (73 per cent) and their mid-40s to mid-50s (76 per cent).

The negative assessment is sharpest in Nottinghamshire with 90 per cent say the country is heading in the wrong direction, followed by Leeds (85 per cent). The most positive perception of the country by black people is in Luton, where 30 per cent feel that things are heading in the right direction.

Black people began emigrating to England in significant numbers after the Second World War, initially coming mainly from the Caribbean. Sixty-five per cent of all black people in the UK are sanguine about the trek, but that proportion is pumped up significantly by more recent arrivees from Africa and the Carib-bean, given that only 25 per cent of UK blacks, that is black people whose roots at at least three generations deep in the country, say they are glad that their families came to Britain. However, a whopping 56 per cent of this group declined to answer the question and only 10 per cent wished their families had stayed in their home countries.

Seventy-one per cent of Africans and 66 per cent of West Indians say they are glad their families came.

Emigrated

It is the very young and the old who are happiest for having emigrated to Britain. Seventy-four per cent each of those in the 14-24 and 55 and over age groups say they are glad for having come or been brought to Britain, against only 55 per cent in the 25-34 category. Women and men were evenly matched on this score - approximately two-thirds of each being glad to be here.

When Johnson asked black people about immigration from the new EU countries to the UK, 28 per cent saw this as bad for Britain, with that view being strongest among Caribbeans (33 per cent). About a fifth each of Africans and UK blacks concur.

A third of all blacks say they are in-between on the issue, which, if taken as not being negative or marginally positive would be given as a overall 'not negative' rating of 63 per cent. Black men were generally less negative than black women about the new immigrants

Thirty-six per cent of men, 10 percentage points higher than women, say that the immigration, mostly from Eastern Europe, is a good thing for Britain. Thirty-one per cent of women, against 26 per cent of men perceive it to be negative for the UK.

Regionally, the strongest positive attitude towards the new immigration is in Manchester (42 per cent) where views are most negative among black people in Luton (49 per cent).

With regard to age categories, the postpositive response to the new immigration is in the 25-34 group, 34 per cent of whom say such immigration, while the deepest negative was among older people. Fifty-five per cent of those 55 and over say the new influx of migrants is bad.