Why Britain Is Feeling Bleak

The pound is weak, jobs are scarce, and the economy may slip back into recession. But few Britons believe the next government will fix what ails their country

  • Peter Dench for TIME

    Barking, not biting Liberal Democrat Dominic Carman chases elusive votes being wooed by the hard-right British National Party

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    The impact was greater because Britain's growing wealth has fueled growing inequality. The gap between rich and poor is only slightly narrower in the U.K. than in the U.S. and yawns much wider than in other European countries. Social mobility has stalled. The gulf between City financiers and low-income Londoners is profound. "The bankers look down from their gleaming towers in the City, and they see a depressed and depressing East End," says Dominic Carman, the parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrat Party in Barking. "From the East End, the City looks like an El Dorado of gleaming spires and towers. It might as well be 10,000 miles away because it's so unreachable, so unfathomable."

    Fool's Gold
    That distant El Dorado may have enriched only some Britons, but the turbulence shaking it is felt by everyone. There's little agreement among politicians or economists about quite how much of a basket case Britain has become. "Although the economy is now growing, recovery is still in its early stages and remains very fragile," Brown said in a March 10 speech in the City. Labour says the recovery is due to the government's lead in global efforts to stabilize the banking system and its $30 billion of fiscal stimulus and argues that stimulus spending must continue. Conservatives, however, propose swifter action to reduce Britain's borrowing. That view has been bolstered over recent weeks with the world's three biggest credit-rating agencies raising concerns that the scale of debt puts Britain at significant risk of default. That might seem to raise the mortifying prospect of another British Prime Minister going cap in hand to the IMF. Ironically, the IMF backs Labour's more cautious approach to deficit reduction, warning in February that stimulus packages needed to be maintained "well into 2010 for a majority of the world's economies."

    Brown bears some of the responsibility for the economic mess: he was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Blair and has been Prime Minister since 2007. But he has deflected blame to global pressures and has made political hay of his rival's lack of experience. "This is no time for a novice," declared Brown in September 2008 as the global financial crisis gathered pace. A Conservative poll lead of 20 points has eroded to the narrowest of margins, not least on fears of the youthful opposition team's collective inexperience. There's another factor that counts against them: the Conservatives have traditionally been seen as the party of the rich, and few Brits are feeling flush. Moreover, Cameron and many among his front-bench team were born to wealth and privilege. Voters wonder if they can understand the concerns of ordinary folk.

    "This area is going down the khazi! " The speaker's use of the archaic Britishism identifies him as an Englishman of a certain age. Having been winged by a beer can during a fight among schoolkids in a Barking McDonald's, he's shocked and furious. "I want law and order," he tells Liberal Democrat Carman, who happens to be canvassing voters in the street outside. "That's why the BNP is the only choice."

    The BNP has gained strength by mobilizing the resentments of alienated voters. The far right will not be the only purveyors of extreme ideologies to spot opportunity in Britain's fraying social fabric. If the country is to regain the self-confidence, tolerance and humor that marked it as a great nation long after its influence declined, it needs to rediscover a faith in human nature. The mainstream politicians who did so much to dent that faith may not find it easy to lead its restoration.

    Carman gamely argues with the BNP supporter, asking him to "vote anyone except the BNP. In a quiet, reflective moment, I urge you to think again." His interlocutor remains unconvinced. Yet on such exchanges — and on the ability of the political classes to reinfuse a dispirited population with a shared sense of purpose — Britain's future depends.

    — With reporting by Meg Handley

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