Research finds that the pandemic has bolstered local unity

Research has found that the coronavirus pandemic has led to a greater sense of national division, but our sense of local unity has remained strong.

The Belong Network’s report, which details the findings of a comprehensive study into the impact of the pandemic on social relations in Britain, found that local authority areas that had prioritised support for social infrastructure and cohesion – and been supported to do so by government investment – proved to be more resilient in the course of the pandemic than other places.

The researchers have called on the government to draw on the lessons of the pandemic to ‘build back unity from the bottom up’ by channelling moderate investment into local initiatives which build social infrastructure and people’s sense of togetherness, and to firmly embed this approach within the government’s levelling-up plans.

Belong says that trust in the UK government’s response to the crisis started out high, but dropped sharply after June 2020. In contrast, trust in local government’s response to the pandemic was stronger and did not fall over the course of the pandemic.

In fact, respondents in all places trusted their local authority’s response to the virus more than they did the UK government’s response.