Britain’s young are becoming increasingly critical of the empire
With a recent YouGov survey examining Scottish public opinion on the British Empire, this sister article looks in more detail at attitudes among the wider British public.
The results show that one in three Britons (33%) say the British Empire is more something to be proud of, compared to 21% who see it as more something to be ashamed of. The largest portion of the public, 39%, say that it is something to be neither proud nor ashamed of. These results are consistent with previous YouGov research from 2019.
Breaking the results down by voting behaviour shows that the majority of Conservative (55%) and Reform UK voters (64%) see the empire as more something to be proud of, while the largest number of Lib Dem (48%) and Labour voters (42%) take the neutral view.
The oldest Britons also tend to take the view that the Empire should be a source of pride (47%), while among the youngest generation the most common answer is that it should be a source of shame (35%). This represents a notable increase since 2019 among the youngest age group: back then 26% of 18-24 year olds had said that the empire was more something to be ashamed about. The figures among those aged 50 and over, by contrast, remain about the same.
One in five Britons (22%) go so far as to say they would like Britain to still have an empire. While the large majority of Labour and Lib Dem voters (72-76%) do not wish the empire still existed, this question divides Reform UK voters, of whom 39% wish the empire were still around compared to 36% who do not. Three in ten Conservative voters (31%) would also prefer the empire’s continued existence, although 44% take the opposing view.
Are countries better off for having been a part of the British Empire?
In a column for the Daily Mail last year, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick wrote that Britain’s former colonies owe us a debt of gratitude for the inheritance we left them.
The most common opinion among the British public, at 35%, is that countries that were colonised by Britain are better off for the experience. This is the view of a majority of Conservative (56%) and Reform UK voters (64%), but only 23-28% of Labour and Lib Dem voters.
One in six Britons (18%) think former colonies are neither better nor worse off as a result of the British Empire, while 20% say they are worse off. This latter view is the most common among Labour voters (31%) and 18-24 year olds (39%).
Again, this represents a significant shift among the youngest Britons, of whom only 24% had said the empire left colonies worse off when we asked in 2019.
When it comes to specific areas of the world colonised by Britain, the public tend to think that England, Scotland and Wales benefited more than they suffered from the Empire, as did Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Opinion is split on whether or not India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (formerly collectively the British colony of India) benefitted more than they suffered, as is the case for British colonies in South East Asia.
More Britons are sure that colonies in Africa are worse off overall, and likewise Ireland.
Again, Tories and Reform UK voters are more likely than other groups to think specific areas of the empire benefitted from Britain’s rule. Even for our former African colonies – the area the British public are most likely to say suffered from the empire – the number of Conservative and Reform UK voters who think they benefited from British rule (38-46%) substantially outweighs the number who think they suffered (17-20%).
How should schools teach about the British Empire?
Teaching about the British Empire has become an increasingly political issue. The Conservative government commissioned a review of the modern history curriculum in response to a report warning of a risk that schools might come under pressure to “decolonise” the curriculum, although this was reportedly since been dropped by Labour.
There is a strong consensus that the British Empire should be on the curriculum in schools, with 79% saying so.
When it comes to the approach that teaching should take on the British Empire, Kemi Badenoch in 2022 called for “both sides of the story” to be told, and this is a view endorsed by the public. The large majority of Britons (78%) say that “teaching should contain a mixture of positive and negative aspects of the British Empire, so pupils are given a comprehensive balanced view”. This is the majority view across all voting and social groups, although it is lowest among 18-24 year olds, at 58%.
This is in part because the youngest adults are more likely to want teaching to take an anti-imperialist emphasis. One in five (22%) say that “teaching should concentrate mainly on the negative aspects of the British Empire, to correct against a historically rosy view of the Empire, make sure pupils are under no illusions that imperialism is bad, and make sure that pupils are aware of the harms Britain committed in the past”. This is a stance reportedly taken by some school support organisations. Among the wider population, only 8% prefer an anti-empire emphasis to teaching.
Just 6% of Britons think teaching “should concentrate on mainly the positive aspects of the British Empire, so that pupils are taught to be proud of Britain's history and accomplishments”. The most likely group to hold this view are Reform UK voters, although only 17% say so.
See the Scotland-focussed sister study to this article here
What do you think about the legacy of the British Empire, how the topic should be taught in schools, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
Picture: Getty
