Photograph by Jennifer Jane Mills
New research has found that the majority of UKIP supporters would be “uncomfortable” with the idea of the UK having a non-white Prime Minister.
The Research, conducted by YouGov for Demos and Birkbeck College and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), was part of a study about the the public’s responses to ethnic change in Britain.
They found that concern about a non-white Prime Minister was strongest amongst UKIP supporters, where 59% of people were either “fairly uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable”, and only 14% “comfortable” with the idea.
41% of Conservative supporters, 28% of Labour supporters, and 25% of Liberal Democrats also responded that they were uncomfortable with a Prime Minister from an ethnic minority.
It is not just an ethnic minority that causes concern for some voters, with the research also showing only 45% of UKIP supporters were comfortable having a friend from an ethnic minority, compared to 58% of Conservative supporters, and 57% of Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters.
