Not another one! Elections are making us more anxious

ENGLAND has become more anxious over the past two years of elections, referendums and constant political uncertainty, the Government’s latest report on national happiness shows.

Nervousness among people in England has been growing since 2014, when the Scottish independence referendum became the first of a series of highstakes popular votes and elections.

A spread of voting fatigue was captured in the BBC’s widely-seen interview with Brenda from Bristol on her reaction to Theresa May’s announcement of a fresh election on Tuesday: ‘Not another one!’

The annual report, by the Office for National Statistics, found that across Britain levels of happiness have remained steady. However in England there were signs of greater anxiety.

The pattern, based on surveys in which people are asked to give a figure out of ten for how anxious they are, shows that England was feeling increasingly secure from the spring of 2011 onwards, as the recession began to recede.

Between then and the late summer of 2014, anxiety ratings out of ten fell from 3.14 to 2.83. However from then levels began to rise and the 2016 estimates show an anxiety level of 2.9 out of ten.

The report said: ‘The latest period covered includes a period of political uncertainty, not least campaigning for the EU referendum.’

The Scottish referendum in September 2014 was followed by the May 2015 general election and the June 2016 Brexit referendum, characterised by warnings of imminent economic collapse.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement, Parliament voted for a general election to be held on June 8.

‘Period of political uncertainty’