EU elections: what the people of York say
Posted on 9 June 2004
Spokesperson, Rory Broomfield, explained: "the idea was not to ask people to answer long questionnaires but to sit down with York residents in the city centre and parks to learn and discuss their views on EU and regional government". Students and citizens enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about each other.
Overall, the results indicated that more people were going to vote in this EU election than the last one - due mainly to the introduction of all-postal-voting in the region. However, people in the main were voting on UK issues rather than EU policies. The EU referendum promised by the government seems to have defused that issue.
Instead, people will be largely voting on party political lines. Support for the Tory party is strong. By comparison, support for the Labour party is weak. Many people who had previously voted for Labour were, at best, unhappy with Tony Blair, especially over Iraq and government support for the US. They would be more likely not to vote. As one resident explained: "I won't be a slave to Labour". Another added: "Labour really are in a bit of mess at the moment". Some voters said that they would switch to vote for the Lib-Dems or Greens.
"There were very few people who were really passionate about the EU", one student spokesperson reported. Those that were strongly pro-EU were most likely to vote Lib-Dem; those who were very strongly anti-EU were likely to support UKIP. But generally, the citizens were indifferent about the EU. Few wanted to leave the Union, and most wanted to maintain the status quo. They were not idealistic. Instead their support was confined to the economic benefits of continued membership.
Older people were much more likely to vote than younger residents. Surprisingly, men - especially middle-aged or older men - were more likely to vote than women. Whilst interest in politics was high, support for political parties was low. On the basis of the interviews, the students forecast that turnout could be over 40% and the likely outcome was: Conservatives- 3 MEPs; Labour- 2; Lib-Dems- 1. However, they suggested that opinions of York residents were unlikely to be typical of the Yorkshire & Humber Euro-constituency.
National identity was not an issue for most people. Support for the EU was essentially pragmatic. Strong ‘antis' were attracted by UKIP although their support in York seemed much lower than elsewhere.
There was, however, worrying evidence that most people believed that major decisions on the EU would be taken by the government ‘over the heads' of the people. But there was little support for the view that ‘the government knows best'.
Whereas most citizens took a ‘cool', pragmatic attitude towards the EU, they expressed strong feelings for Yorkshire. Very few, however, were aware of the Autumn referendum over a regional assembly for ‘Yorkshire and The Humber', although nearly 70% said that they would vote. The majority said that they would vote against an assembly. Many thought that an assembly "wouldn't make a difference".
Unlike about the EU, strong views prevailed on a regional assembly. A Yorkshire assembly would be: "just another layer of confusion"; "bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake"; "Yorkshire IS, that's it, full stop"; "John Prescott's brain child; that speaks for itself". People who were proud to be ‘Yorkshire' were also proud to be British. Both feelings were much stronger among older people. So the idea of a "Europe of the regions" had little support. As fellow-northerner, Laura Weir explained "people's attitudes to a Yorkshire regional assembly are not as yet strongly entrenched. Many believe that they don't have enough information. So, given the government's control of information, the referendum is still winnable".
Notes to editors:
- The student spokespersons who conducted the survey were:
- Rory Broomfield, aged 18, British/Swiss, from Hertfordshire studying Politics. He attended Rugby School;
- Laura Weir, 18, British, from Whitehaven, Cumbria studying Politics. She attended Whitehaven School;
- Jimmy Rose, 18, British, from Abingdon, Oxfordshire studying Politics.