Matthew Hull, Unlock Democracy

Unlock Democracy is pooling our perspectives and experiences to make sure that our campaigns adapt to our rapidly changing social and political circumstances. That’s why we asked you our supporters to tell us a bit about your experiences of Covid-19 and how it has affected your perspectives on politics and society.

Over a thousand of you responded in just five days, and we’re delighted to share with you some of the initial conclusions from our survey. In the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing a special report with more detailed results. Sign up to our mailing list to get a first look.

So what conclusions can we draw as a community?

The lessons we’ve learned are many and varied, and will inform what we do for months to come. For now, here are just four suggestions based on what you’ve told me, both in this survey and online:

1. Leadership will come from us and our communities

People don’t see real moral and political leadership coming from Westminster, but from their community. The faith that we place in our communities, charities, and campaigns is a sign that people want more direct control over their lives, not less. As local governments and front-line services face ever more budgetary pressure, it’s time for politicians to empower these bodies and do more to assist communities directly.

2. There are real concerns about the ability of charities and campaigns to make this leadership count

Despite the relatively high levels of trust people place in them, people aren’t optimistic about charities’ and campaigns’ abilities to emerge from this in a strong position and defend the communities they serve. Organisations need to recognise this, and do more together to defend the social progress we have made - and ensure that we all hold the government accountable.

3. There are clear dangers for democracy - but reasons to hope too

People are concerned about the state of our democracy, and emerging threats to our civil liberties. Speaking to us, people connect these emerging threats with longstanding features of our undemocratic political system. But crucially, people also see this as a time when we can unite around our shared values and demand a system that truly serves us, the people. We must make sure everything we do aims at that goal.

4. No-one is healthy and safe until everyone is healthy and safe

People we speak to are aware of the dangers we all face, and aware that these dangers are greatest for the least fortunate. As a community we’ve seen that we all value justice and equality, and that these values are more important to us than ever before.

Unlock Democracy is made up of and run by our members and supporters. You shape our campaigns and collectively determine our future.

All this is true in normal times. And these are not normal times. Just as the novel coronavirus has changed all our lives, so it must change how we approach our campaigns. We’ve launched a new programme of listening and discussion to reflect this, including a weekly discussion podcast, a brand new blog series, and more.

We’ll be discussing the full results of our survey and what they can tell us in the next episode of our weekly podcast, Democracy in Lockdown. Sign up to our mailing list to get a first look at the full report and get every podcast episode straight to your inbox.