‘UK Riots Were not Reflective of Working Class People or Working Class Ideals’

For much of the last week, right-wing commentators and politicians have scrambled onto their soapboxes, desperate to convince us that the riots would not have happened if we’d listened to the concerns of the supposedly ordinary, working class people who participated in them.

Grasping at every available straw to promote the idea that a racially motivated minority represents the entire working-class population of the UK, they have forgotten one key point – there are many, many more of us than them, and most of us are neither violent nor racist.

According to a 2021 survey of British social attitudes, 52% of Brits consider themselves working class. A YouGov poll from last week also shows that 85% of Britons oppose the violence of recent weeks and 54% oppose the protests in their entirety. Whilst 927 people have been arrested over the riots, and 466 charged, there are clearly a lot of working class people who have not gone out and demolished their communities. 

So what Caused the Unrest?

This idea that “the Government” is not listening to the concerns of ordinary white men, has been a key pillar of hard right conservatism for a while. Since 2014, now Reform MP, Nigel Farage, has been claiming that white, working class people have become an “underclass”. Similar claims have been made by hard right think-tank, The Centre for Social Justice, who claimed that white, working class boys were in danger of becoming an “educational underclass”.

Whilst those on the right are quick to claim that this is because immigrants, refugees and people of colour are somehow prioritised by the welfare and education systems, research has shown that the real reason is actually far more complicated and mostly comes down to familial attitudes towards education and future employment.

A survey of those on persistent low income from December 2023, showed 29% were in the ‘other’ ethnic group, 10% identified themselves as black and 15% as Asian. Whites accounted for just 8% of the UK population. Likewise, only 25% of those from a BME background believed that “everyone has a fair chance to go as far as talent and hard work will take them”.

This study has been in the public domain for more than ten years, yet few people are aware of its existence and even fewer seem to be aware of its findings and their relevance to current issues. In contrast, a study from Prof David Coleman of the think-tank Migrant Watch, which claimed that white Britons would be in the minority by 2066, has appeared in a number of UK newspapers. Coleman has faced severe criticism for his comments on eugenics and his study underpins the rhetoric of UK far-right groups and political parties. 

Whilst most UK newspapers were quick to praise the efforts of anti-racism protesters last week and even the Daily Mail challenged the “far right idea that white Brits are a dying breed”, many media outlets have repeatedly published headlines suggesting that working class Brits are soon to be replaced and at immediate risk of rape and homelessness from immigrants. 

The impact of this narrative was seen in practice in Plymouth this time last week, where some of the non-violent attendees revealed their motivations to be a mish-mash of false beliefs, intergenerational racism, and talking points seen in both the right wing press and from the leaders of the Reform Party.

One lady in her fifties, who declined to give her name, said she was there “to stop the boats and get our country back!” When asked who she believed was taking her country, she told Byline Times “Islams and Muslims and stuff”.

She went on say she was sick of the Government giving benefits and homes to asylum seekers when British people were living on the streets. When asked if it would be acceptable for the Government to provide for both white British people and immigrants, she shook her head, saying “they are a British Government” and “should care for British people first”. 

Currently 6.7 million people claim Universal Credit in the UK and 77% of them are white. When asylum seekers are settled, they receive a specific welfare payment which amounts to £49.18 per week and a random housing placement. Asylum seekers are not entitled to council housing or most benefits.

Further questions to the Plymouth protester revealed that she wanted migrants to “stop in France” and that her late father had told her, “by the time you’re in your fifties, you will be the minority.” Plymouth is 95% white and only 1% Muslim.

One of the key chants used in riots across several cities was “We want our country back”. The phrase comes from Reform MP Lee Anderson.

In a recent interview with Sky News Australia, Farage praised Anderson for being “Northern [and] very working class”. Laughing about this, Farage made it very clear that Anderson’s value is his ability to make the party seem more down to earth than its leadership would suggest. Both Richard Tice and Farage are privately educated.

Anderson has described rioters as “British working class lads” and denied the presence of the far-right, saying he needs to “sit down with [the rioters], find out what the problem is and try [to] come up with some solutions”. Anderson has also, previously called for asylum seekers to  “f*** off back to France”, whilst Farage has previously drawn criticism for calling London “minority white”. 

The claim that nobody is listening to white, working class boys has been a central tenet of far-right recruitment for decades. Setting themselves up as the only saviours in a hostile world, groups like the BNP, the National Front and, more recently, Patriotic Alternative, often suck in disenfranchised young men by convincing them that they will listen when nobody else has. 

Farage and co are playing an extremely dangerous game by taking up this baton, and an even more dangerous one by claiming that those who organised the riots were not far- right, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Fixing the Political Climate that Caused the Riots

It will not be easy to fix the issues that led to the riots, but there are several things which need to happen if we are to try: 

Those who have a vested interest in promoting racial hatred must be seriously challenged. This includes those in power, those in the media and those running social media platforms.

The Government needs to fix deprived communities and listen to their most at-risk constituents before they are forced to seek solace elsewhere.

The media (both news and entertainment) must stop caricaturing working-class Brits. When misinformation is rife, those with the power to correct it need to present themselves as trustworthy and willing to present the truth. 

Working-class people are more than lazy stereotypes. We are black, white, Asian, Muslim, Jew, Christian and Atheist. And the majority of us know that our neighbours are not the cause of our inequalities.