In a foreword to a paper on trust in government, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, said that “government has to demonstrate by its actions it will focus on sorting problems out” and “not sell the moonshine of the easy glib answer”.
The Social Market Foundation – a cross-party think-tank – is launching a new essay series on trust. The collection launches on trust in government – authored by Steve van Riel, Head of Trust Development at Edelman UK, which publishes the annual Trust Barometer. Van Riel said that: “It’s easy to say trust is important, it’s much harder to identify where trust matters most, and what we can do to increase it. But if we take public trust as seriously as we take GDP growth or NHS waiting times, then that’s the conversation policymakers need to engage in.”
Trust in government is at a historic low, falling from 45% in 2021 to only 30% in 2024, Van Riel’s paper points out. When compared to the bulk of private and public sector organisations, and scientific experts, politicians and government are generally distrusted.
In a foreword to the paper, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden said: “Keir Starmer knows that simply saying “trust me” won’t work. Government has to show, not tell. It has to demonstrate by its actions it will focus on sorting problems out and not sell the moonshine of the easy glib answer.”
“…Our newly elected Government will not claim everything we do is “world beating”, but we will try to sort out the challenges the country faces and deliver for a population that has been let down too many times in recent years.”
“…It would be a category error for anyone in politics to believe the size of the majority we were given on 4 July will somehow automatically translate into victory at the next election.”
However, van Riel argues that overcoming falling levels of trust will require rethinking how we understand the concept. He sets out here aims to help policymakers look a layer beneath the abstract concept of trust, and be “strategic about where greater trust will really make a difference”. To decide on the best strategic approach will require identifying the nature of the public’s trust on an issue, i.e., “are we trying to win trust in our choices or our capabilities? If we misdiagnose this, we speak at cross-purposes with our audiences.”
Van Riel also goes on to explain say that reforming trust in politicians, government and other key organisations (such as the media or high-profile people in the private sector) would mean that, ultimately, people would still have “some kind of trust in government even when it was being led by politicians they fundamentally disagreed with”.
Notes
- The SMF paper, The fight for trust, will be published at https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/the-fight-for-trust/ on 10th October, 2024
Contact
- For media enquiries, please contact Impact Officer Richa Kapoor, at richa@smf.co.uk
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