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The findings from the World Values Survey (WVS) exploring trust in institutions in
24 nations from Canada to South Korea are likely to boost confidence among
advocates of rebuilding links between the UK and the EU.

The former Brexit secretary David Davis said the marked shift was probably a result
of “a whiny, unpleasant, bitchy row” in parliament over Brexit since late 2017,
“which has been completely unproductive”.

He said UK government crises over the coronavirus pandemic would have added to the
slump in trust and suggested that since Brexit, the media – he named the Sun, Daily
Telegraph, Times and Daily Mail – have stopped “kicking Brussels all the time” as
they did in the run-up to the 2016 referendum.

“No one reads about square strawberries or straight bananas any more,” he said.

The boost in confidence in the EU also follows a robust response from EU leaders to
the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s desire for his country to
become part of the bloc.

Only 24% of people said they were “happy” that the UK voted to quit the EU while
49% said they were disappointed.

The findings also show the UK has joined the ranks of countries least likely to
have confidence in government and parliament – falling behind France, Germany,
Australia, Iran and China.

“Confidence in parliament has halved since 1990,” said Prof Bobby Duffy, the
director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, which analysed the
figures. “We’re among the least likely of more than 20 countries in the study to
have confidence in the government; confidence in the police has fallen sharply,
particularly in London; and only Egypt has less trust in their press.”

Confidence in parliament was dragged down by particularly low scores among members
of the generation X, millennial and generation Z cohorts.

With only 13% of people saying they have confidence in UK political parties, the
nation is on a par with Brazil, Italy and France but well behind Norway (36%),
Sweden (32%), Canada (24%) and Germany (23%).