Half of young people say they would never fight for Britain in a war, poll shows
Young people feel that they are treated unfairly by the British political system, according to the poll, with 50 per cent ticking “under no circumstances” when asked whether they'd fight for Britain
Half of young people would never fight for Britain given the onset of war, polling has shown, with many adopting an attitude of "why fight for a country that isn’t fighting for you?"
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When asked whether they would take up arms for the country, 50 per cent of those aged 16-29 said: “under no circumstances”.
Around 38 per cent said they would “under some circumstances”, whilst the rest said they did not know.
The poll provides more evidence that Gen Z identifies as less patriotic than previous generations, prompting questions about generational differences on matters of national pride.
The number of participants who said they expected their lives to be better than their parents' had halved in just a year, from 63 per cent to 36 per cent.
Just 25 per cent said that they felt they were treated fairly by the political system.
Eddie Barnes, the director of the John Smith Centre, said that younger people were unwilling to fight for a country that did not fight for them.
He told the Telegraph: “Locked out of the housing market, pinned down by low wages, loaded by student debt, and increasingly worried about the rise in AI, young people today feel a growing sense of unfairness about the world around them."
“In those circumstances, it should be little surprise that 50 per cent say they wouldn’t fight for the country under any circumstances," he added.
Or as many young people might put it: why fight for a country that isn’t fighting for you?”
When asked to rank their top three worries, young people highlighted financial concerns, job insecurity and housing instability.
When asked to identify the top three things that would make them happier, they selected better wages, affordable housing and more career opportunities.
The threat of AI on the job market was identified as one of the top three threats by 55 per cent of young people.
Over half of young people agreed that politics in the UK had become too divisive, and only 13 per cent disagreed.
When asked to identify which political leader best represented British values, 45 per cent did not name any current leader.
Around 51 per cent of young people said they felt immigration had improved their communities.
They also appeared to believe that the UK has some responsibility to intervene internationally, especially concerning cases of human rights abuses.
On the topic of paying reparations to former colonies, 66 per cent said “yes” or “maybe”.
There does also appear to be an uptake in the number of young people who support democratic values - when compared to last year’s poll, the number of participants who said they preferred a dictatorship had fallen from 27 per cent to 17 per cent.