New Verian polling finds 75% of adults say opportunities for people to improve their lives are worse than 10 years ago, and 80% say they are not optimistic about Britain’s future over the next decade.
The vast majority, 93%, say local government has a great deal or a fair amount of responsibility for improving quality of life in their local area. More than two thirds, 69%, say decisions about public services, amenities and facilities should mainly be made locally, even if that means provision varies between areas.
A sizeable minority (32%) agree that local councils should be able to raise taxes to make this happen.
These findings come as national vs local power, cost of living pressures, young people’s opportunities and health and social care move to the centre of the UK political debate under new Labour leadership.
Ben Humberstone, Managing Director UK, Verian, said:
“Even while outlooks for the future are pessimistic, what stands out is the strength of support for local decision-making. People are not saying local government can solve everything alone, but they trust local government more than national government on many of the issues that shape daily life, from housing and GP services to transport and roads”.
Currently, people feel they have limited influence over the places where they live. More than six in ten (63%), agree that areas like theirs are often overlooked when national decisions are made, and 82% say people like them have not very much influence or no influence at all over the future of their local area. More than two thirds, 68%, agree that people in London have more influence over decisions that affect Britain than people in other parts of the country.
Looking ahead, only 10% expect their local area to be a better place to live in 10 years’ time, while 42% expect it to be worse. Just 8% expect people in their local area to be financially better off in 10 years’ time, compared with 55% who expect them to be worse off.
A broad range of issues are considered important for improving a local area:
Housing is a major pressure point. Nearly two thirds, 64%, agree that the cost of housing in their local area is a serious problem, and 65% say they would like to see more affordable housing in their local area. Almost half, 45%, say more social housing needs to be built locally. Among renters, 80% say they would like to see more affordable housing in their area, but support is also high among homeowners, at 58%.
The research finds low confidence in young people’s prospects, with only 1% very confident that young people growing up in their local area today will have good opportunities in life, and 77% not very or not at all confident. One in four adults, 25%, say access to apprenticeships and training would make the biggest difference to opportunities for young people in their local area, while 22% say better paid local jobs or jobs with better prospects would make the biggest difference.
Craig Watkins, CEO, UK & EU Institutions said:
“This research shows that people’s priorities are practical and immediate: lower bills, safer streets, affordable housing, better access to healthcare and stronger opportunities for young people. The challenge for national and local policy makers will be to work together to turn these priorities into visible local change.
Methodological information
A sample of 5,238 adults aged 16+ in Great Britain was interviewed between the afternoon of 10th July and the morning of 14th July 2026. The survey data tables and further details on the methodological approach and weighting will be published on the Verian website by 03 August 2026..
Our sample was drawn from Verian’s random sample panel Public Voice. This panel is used extensively for social research commissioned by government, academic and third sector organisations, including those based in the US and Europe. Membership of this panel is restricted to those living in a controlled sample of UK addresses drawn from the Royal Mail’s master database. This restrictive method of panel-building is relatively expensive but will ordinarily provide benefits in terms of sample and data quality when compared with a panel that any adult resident in the UK can join. Although the short-period fieldwork web-only protocol used for this poll is much more limited than is typical for a social research survey, the demographic and political composition of the sample is only modestly degraded compared to what could be obtained using the full social research data collection protocol (two to three weeks using both web and telephone interview modes).
The data was weighted to match population totals for age, gender, 2024 General Election voting patterns, education, region, and likelihood to vote in the next General Election.
Contacts
For further information on any of the data and findings from the report please contact pressenquiries@veriangroup.com.