A poll by the BBC's Newsnight programme to discover the views of the white working class has found that more than half think nobody speaks out for people like them. Do you agree?

 

The poll was in response to BBC Two’s 'White season', which explores issues concerning the white working class in 21st century Britain.

 

The poll suggests that a higher proportion of them are finding it difficult to afford housing and believe that Britain has generally got worse over the last 10 years.

 

On immigration, more white working class people questioned in the poll thought it was a bad thing and more also believed their jobs were at risk from immigration.

 

Would you describe yourself as British white working class? What issues are of most concern to you? Do you think your voice is heard in Britain? Do you have a personal experience to share?

 

 

Some 58% said they felt unrepresented compared with 46% of white middle class respondents to a Newsnight poll.

 

White working classes were also negative about the past decade with 62% saying life had generally become worse in the UK.

 

In response to BBC Two's White Season, a special Newsnight on 6 March will feature full poll results and debate.

 

The researchers defined the middle classes as the ABC1 category of occupations - senior professionals, office workers and junior managers - while the working class was defined as the C2DE grades - skilled manual workers, semi and unskilled workers, and people on benefits.

 

In most areas covered by the survey the white working classes are more pessimistic about the future and more negative about the last decade in Britain than white middle class people.

 

Of the working class people questioned 71% believe crime has got worse over the last decade, compared with 66% of middle class people.

 

On housing, 80% of the working class say that people like them can no longer afford to buy homes in the area they live. A smaller majority - 68% - of middle class people believed they had been priced out of the local housing market.

 

Overall 62% of the white working classes believe that life in Britain has generally got worse over the last decade compared with 51% of middle class white people.

 

When asked whether they thought immigration into Britain, on the whole, was a good or bad thing for the country the survey suggests that opinion was divided between people from different social groups.

 

Some 52% of the white working class people questioned thought immigration was a bad thing (42% thought it was a good thing), while just 33% of white middle class people thought it bad (62% thought it a good thing).

 

When asked whether they thought new immigrants had put their jobs at risk the survey suggests that more than twice as many white working class people (27%) compared with middle class (13%) people thought it had.

 

Source: BBC news

Everyone has a voice in the ballot box come election time be they white, black, poor, wealthy

in a word... yes!

 

the white working class are being taxed to the hilt in order to pay for benefits, the war in iraq/afghanistan, bungling policies and red tape.

Yep, and 'urban redevelopment' means if you can't afford to live there then you get shifted further and further out of town.

the white working class are being taxed to the hilt in order to pay for benefits, the war in iraq/afghanistan, bungling policies and red tape.

 

ALL the working/lower middle classes are being shafted mate, not just the white ones... I do have slightly less sympathy for the mid-to-upper middle classes though, because at the end of the day, middle class is what "Nu Labor" and their core voting demographic essentially is, the real, historical working class "Labour Party/Labour Movement" no longer exists, it has been effectively hijacked by middle-class, middle of the road concerns....

 

Middle class people have been shafted even more than working class

 

Taxed through the nose with income tax double that of working class, shafted in terms of council tax on bigger properties in many cases £2000 a year, excessive taxes on 4x4's and luxury cars, petrol prices and so on

 

Everyone is shafted under this "government"

excessive taxes on 4x4's and luxury cars, petrol prices and so on

 

If you ask me, the taxes on these 4x4 fukkin' Chelsea Tractors aint bloody high enough, I am totally against these "off road" vehicles being used on urban highways and streets, horrible things they are, they belong on fukkin' farms or tough terrain, NOT on the Piccadily Circus mate.... I have NO sympathy for the owners of these things whinging about tax duties... AND the buggers use more petrol than a normal, average family car anyway ffs...... <_< Idiots... A more smaller, more FUEL ECONOMIC car would mean spending LESS on petrol AND INSURANCE... Simple bloody economics innit....

Everyone is shafted under this "government"

 

... you talk as if this government invented taxation.... it didnt, and if the tories had been in power right now the situation wouldnt be any better.

 

 

... you talk as if this government invented taxation.... it didnt, and if the tories had been in power right now the situation wouldnt be any better.

 

Spot on mate.. The Tories invented "Stealth Taxes", VAT on stuff like heating, lighting, phone calls, take away food, etc, which hit the poorest the most.... <_<

 

This is not to let Nu Labor off the hook, they've done sod all to reverse the trend, in fact, I reckon they made things even worse if anything....