Law & Order is the voter's heart

Law and order, and in particular anti-social youth behaviour, is the single most important issue for individuals in the run up to the General Election, according to 2,206 people polled by Continental Research.

Similar surveys tend to focus on the needs of the community in general but this study is different as it looked specifically at issues that would improve an individual’s quality of life.

When asked "What is the most important factor that councils should concentrate on to improve the quality of your life?", 21% cited law and order, significantly above traditional election-winners such as health (14%) and quality of schools (12%).

Table 1: One single issue that would most improve your quality of life


All adults

aged 16+

Law and order
21%

Health services
14%

Quality of schools
12%

Housing for low income people
8%

Roads
6%

Parking
6%

Litter/pollution/ graffiti
5%

Social care for elderly
5%

Public transport
5%

Refuse collection
4%

Recycling facilities
4%

Other social care
3%

Leisure and sport facilities
3%

Nothing
3%


Base: 2,206



Louise Stacey, director of Continental Research’s Public Sector Division, said: "Law and order has struck a chord with the British electorate and it is no surprise that politicians are talking a lot about this in the run up to the election. Of great interest is that all communities put great emphasis on law and order whether they live in an inner city area or a small rural town. This shows people feel an improvement in law and order would provide great benefit to their daily lives."


Table 2: One issue that would most improve your quality of life by location


All

respondents
Inner city


City

Suburbs
Large

town
Small town/

Village

Law and order
21%
18%
22%
20%
21%

Health services
14%
9%
11%
12%
17%

Quality of its schools
12%
14%
11%
11%
12%

Housing for low income people
8%
10%
8%
7%
7%

Roads
6%
5%
7%
5%
7%

Parking
6%
8%
6%
8%
4%

Litter/ pollution/ graffiti
5%
3%
7%
7%
4%

Social care for the elderly
5%
8%
4%
5%
5%

Public transport
5%
8%
5%
5%
5%

Recycling facilities
4%
4%
5%
4%
4%

Refuse collection
4%
6%
4%
2%
4%

Other social care e.g. young offenders
3%
2%
3%
5%
3%

Leisure and sport facilities
3%
2%
3%
4%
3%

Nothing
3%
3%
2%
4%
3%


Base: 2,206


The Continental report explored further the subject of law and order and asked the national sample of adults "Which one aspect of law and order do you think your council should concentrate on to really improve your quality of life in your area?" As the table below shows, anti-social youth behaviour and drugs/alcohol misuse are top of the agenda.

Table 3: The one aspect of law and order would most like to see tackled


All adults

aged 16+

Anti-social youth behaviour
24%

Drugs and alcohol misuse/disturbance
20%

Burglary
11%

Vandalism
7%

Violence
6%

Litter/graffiti
5%

Car crime
5%

Anti-social neighbours
4%

Street robbery
4%

Guns and offensive weapons
3%

Race hate crime
2%

Truancy
1%

None
8%


Base: 2,206


Anti-social youth behaviour came top across most regions in Great Britain. However when one looked at the underlying issues there are some regional variations. For example:



In the North (29%) and Yorkshire/Humberside (27%) concerns about drugs and alcohol misuse and disturbances were higher than average. This was especially high in Wales (31%)
In London concerns about street robbery (12%) were higher
Concerns about vandalism (9%) were higher In East Anglia
In the West Midlands concerns about burglary (14%) and violence 11% were higher than average.

The full regional chart is available on request.

Stacey concluded: "People are clearly fed up with the increase in yob culture in this country often fuelled by drink and drug misuse. The emphasis needs to be on restoring law and order in society to improve people’s quality of life."

For further information:

Amanda Harrison 020 8743 7566 ah@amandaharrisonmedia.co.uk

Louise Stacey, Continental Research 020 7490 5944

www.continentalresearch.com

Methodology

This report is based on data collected from 2,206 face to face interviews with a representative sample of adults in Great Britain aged 16 years or more. The respondents were selected according to a two-stage random location sample designed to be representative of all adults aged 16 years or more. Interlocking quota controls were set for sex, working status and presence of children, and weighting was subsequently applied to sex, age, social grade and region – in a 72 cell matrix - to make the profile representative of the adult population. All interviewing was carried out in-home using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing) during the first week of April 2005.