surveying attitudes

Analysis of the latest British Social Attitudes Survey shows:

* There is growing distrust of institutions such as the police, the BBC and banks;
* Contempt for politicians and the government is at an all-time high, with record numbers not trusting anything they say;
* No support for redistributing income but widening concern over the pay gaps between bosses and workers;

78% think that the gap between the low paid and high earners is too great and the majority believe that the chief executive of a large company should earn only six times more than an unskilled factory worker.

More than half support an increase in the minimum wage.

Yet only 27% want more to be spent on benefits. In 1991 the figure was 58 per cent.

Only a third are in favour of redistribution to the less well off, compared with half in 1989.

The findings are more ambiguous than they appear. There are many different routes to income equality. Sweden gets there through redistributive taxation and generous benefits but Japan (the most equal country in the world) gets there by having far less disparate wages to begin with. Judging by their antipathy to redistribution, the British public prefer the Japanese route.

Trust in politicians has plummeted after the expenses scandal. Four in ten "almost never" trust British governments to put the national interest first – about four times as high as during the 1980s.

In 1983, 90% believed banks were well run, and their reputation for being well managed was higher than many other institutions, including the police and the BBC. Now just 19% think banks are well run and their reputation for good management is far below that of either the press (39%) or trade unions (35%).