Governments and Trust (or lack of)

The nation loses trust in its leaders

A new poll shows that a decline in deference to authority has accelerated in the Blair years

Tony Blair has presided over a dramatic collapse in voters' faith in government amid signs that Iraq has accelerated a post-Second World War decline in British deference to authority.

As he prepares to leave office, just 29 per cent of voters trust the Prime Minister, down from 46 per cent who had confidence in Blair in 2000, according to an Ipsos Mori poll.

All Prime Ministers expect to see their trust ratings decline. But the fall has been particularly acute in recent years. Only 17 per cent of people now believe the government can be trusted to put the interests of the country ahead of their party, the classic trust test. More than double this number - 38 per cent - had faith in the government in 1986.

This does not surprise me, would you trust the government with these new anti terror laws these days? The answer would be no. Blair and NuLab have this great belief that in dealing with a problem like terrorism, a new law needs to be created, however as the police will tell you they already have enough laws, also how many terrorist attacks have happened these past couple of years? One! Your more likely to die from an accident on the M25 than from a terrorist attack, so the endless fearmongering by the government only serves to help them in their need for control.

Laws are created with consent from the people, without it the law becomes very unpopular, doesn't even work if you run a police state. This is what makes the Smoking Ban in Public Places different, in that the majority support it, there is little need for the local councils to go snooping around making sure it is implemented, it has been successful in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.