Latest news with #YoungBritons
Telegraph
10-08-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
This is what young people really think of modern Britain. The picture is bleak
Crime This week Mexico reportedly advised its citizens to exercise 'a high degree of caution' when travelling to the UK. When a state plagued with cartel violence doubts your country's safety, something is seriously wrong. New polling by Adam Smith Institute reveals an alarming consensus among young Britons: 61 per cent of 18-30-year-olds are concerned about violent crime in their area. This worry cuts across ethnic backgrounds: 64 per cent of black, 60 per cent of white and 58 per cent of Asian youth share the same fear. Even Labour and Reform voters agree on this: 67 per cent of young Labour supporters and 67 per cent of young Reform UK supporters alike say they are concerned about violent crime in their neighbourhoods. When a supermajority of the younger generation – regardless of ethnicity or politics – agrees on something, it's a flashing red light. And what they're telling us is clear: Britain has a public safety crisis. These fears aren't just perceptions, though. Many forms of violent crime really are rising. Police data shows knife offences rose 4.4 per cent in the year ending March 2024 (to 54,587 incidents in England and Wales), one of the highest rates in Europe. In that same time period, robbery offences jumped by 8 per cent and shoplifting surged by 37 per cent. While naysayers point out that overall crime rates were higher in the 90s, this long-term trend is misleading. It masks the fact that violent crime is climbing again. Even the Home Office acknowledged that some violent crimes have increased since 2014. Knife crime, in particular, has skyrocketed by 87 per cent over the past decade. In other words, the 20-year decline in overall crime obscures a recent upswing in deadly violence. This is the reality underlying young people's anxiety: after years of improvement, violent crime is once again a growing threat. Foreign conflict The ASI polling found that 75 per cent of 18-30-year-olds believe that the risk of Britain becoming involved in a war has increased compared to five years ago. War already rages in Eastern Europe as Russia crashes against Nato's borders. Militant groups like the Houthis strike global supply chains while, in the Far East, China grows increasingly brazen in its aggression against Taiwan. Yet, as fears of conflict grow, Britain's armed forces are at their weakest in over three centuries, crippled by a dysfunctional procurement system and personnel shortages. The Royal Navy, once the Lord of the Seas, is now dangerously depleted. Its escort fleet has dwindled to just 14 operational frigates and destroyers, down from nearly 60 in the 1980s. Frigate numbers are set to drop even further by year-end. Labour has promised a ' tenfold more lethal ' military but without any concrete financial backing – only pledging a defence spending increase to 3 per cent of GDP by 2034. The review lacks real commitment or near-term funding, pushing essential capabilities such as submarines into the distant 2040s. As former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace put it: ' even Putin will be dead by then.' And closer to home, domestic policies have left Britain ill-equipped to fight a major war. No country has ever succeeded on the battlefield with a shrinking domestic industrial base, a stagnant economy and a divided society. Yet this is precisely where Britain finds itself. Job Prospects The latest polling also lays bare the degree of economic anxiety gripping Britain's younger generation. Overall, 60 per cent of 18-30-year-olds believe that finding a well-paid and satisfying job will become harder over the next five years. This is a bleak verdict on the stagnant wages, record-high taxes and unrelenting competition for fewer jobs that has characterised Britain in recent years. Yet beneath this consensus lies a striking ethnic divide. Young black Britons are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to say that the job market will actually improve (47 per cent vs 22 per cent). This disparity suggests differing expectations rooted in divergent experiences of opportunity. For many white young people, record-high taxes, soaring housing costs and sluggish wage growth seem to have narrowed their horizons and shaded their outlook more so than their black counterparts. By contrast, a sizeable minority of black respondents – perhaps buoyed by 'positive action' initiatives, like an internship scheme at MI5 and MI6 which recently went viral for explicitly prioritising candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds – are more optimistic about employment. NHS Quality Young people are deeply divided over the state of our health service. While 34 per cent of 18-30-year-olds believe NHS services have improved in recent years, 46 per cent say they have worsened. And there is a significant gender gap on this issue. A majority of young women (55 per cent) feel that care quality has declined, compared with 36 per cent of men. This gendered gulf reflects the heavier reliance women place on NHS services, from reproductive health to mental-health support, and underscores the growing frustration with inaccessible GP appointments, ballooning waiting lists and understaffed clinics. The perception that half of female patients have experienced a tangible drop in quality should ring alarm bells in Whitehall. It is no longer enough to tout headline funding figures; ministers must deliver reforms that cut waiting times, bolster frontline staffing and leverage technology for smarter triage.
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Dubai offers 'first-time buyer scheme' for priced-out young Britons - and they could get an £100k discount
Young Britons struggling to get on the housing ladder could get first dibs on new apartments, a competitive mortgage offer - and £100,000 off the price. The catch? They will need to move 3,500 miles across the globe to Dubai. In a bid to attract buyers to the United Arab Emirates' city, the Government of Dubai has launched the First Time Home Buyer Program, which offers 'a range of exclusive benefits' to those starting out on the property ladder. It is open to first-time buyers from Dubai, as well as expats if they can secure residency in the emirate. According to the Dubai Government, those who sign up will get 'priority access' to newly-launched homes from some of the top local property developers, as well as 'preferential prices' when they reserve them. It also claims it will offer competitive mortgage offers from banks, and a 'flexible payment plan' to pay the registration fees interest-free through eligible credit cards. Property experts think the offer could attract young people who feel buying their first home in Britain is out of reach - as well as those feeling the pinch from tax rises. Those taking advantage of the scheme won't need to pay income tax, as the UAE doesn't charge this to citizens or expats. Ben Perks, managing director at Orchard Financial Advisers, said: 'There are a growing number of young Britons that are completely disenfranchised with the UK property market. 'One in five young adults don't think they'll ever be able to buy a property. Add in the state of the economy and rising taxes, and people will start to think the grass looks greener elsewhere.' > Did you relocate to Dubai to buy a home - or are considering the new scheme? Get in touch: In Dubai, around 70 per cent of properties are bought off-plan. This involves a registration fee of 4 per cent of the property price to be paid to the Dubai Land Department, and an Oqood (contract) fee of AED 3,000 or about £600. Those buying brand new properties which are already built can also use the scheme, however. And at the moment, those moving from the UK could effectively get a discount of up to £100,000 when they buy a home in the emirate, thanks to currency fluctuations. Currency expert Prem Raja, head of trading floor at Currencies 4 You, told the news agency Newspage that since January, the weakened exchange rate between the US dollar and the United Arab Emirates Dirham has shaved more than £100,000 off the sterling price of a property worth AED 5 million – the scheme's upper limit. In GBP, this is a reduction from around £1.12million to £1million. Who can apply for the Dubai property scheme? It is open to UAE citizens, British expats and new arrivals to the emirate, though the latter will need to secure residency in the country first. The scheme only requires that this must be the applicant's first freehold property in Dubai, so those who own a home in the UK and want to relocate could also be eligible. Someone wanting to own a rental property in Dubai could also apply. For those purchasing with another person, both must be eligible under the scheme's rules. The properties sold under the scheme have an upper price limit of AED 5million or about £1million, and can be bought with or without a mortgage. To register, they need to visit the Dubai Land Department website or the Dubai REST (real estate services) app and submit the required information. If eligible, they will receive a confirmation email from DLD containing a first-time home buyer QR code, which can then be used to access the programme's benefits. The developers participating in the scheme are some of the UAE's biggest and include Damac Properties, Nakheel Properties and Emaar. The partner banks are Commercial Bank of Dubai, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, Emirates Islamic and Mashreq Bank. How much is a property in Dubai? According to Knight Frank's data for January to March 2025, prices went up by 3.7 per cent in that three month period, reaching AED 1,749 or £353 per sq ft. This was 17 per cent higher than the previous property market peak in 2014. For a villa, the average price per sq ft is AED 2,088 or £421 per sq ft. The average home in the UK costs about £300 per sq ft, according to Zoopla research from October 2024, though this rose to £585 in London and £375 in the South East. The UK average is also weighted towards people owning houses, so those buying apartments in Dubai may find they could buy an apartment for cheaper than they would back home - especially given the currency discount and other incentives. And the mortgage payments could also feel more affordable, given they won't be handing over 20 per cent or more of their income in tax. Off-plan sales accounted for 69 per cent of all transactions in Dubai in the three-month period, and 87 per cent of homes were bought in cash. Best mortgage rates and how to find them Mortgage rates have risen substantially over recent years, meaning that those remortgaging or buying a home face higher costs. That makes it even more important to search out the best possible rate for you and get good mortgage advice, whether you are a first-time buyer, home owner or buy-to-let landlord. Quick mortgage finder links with This is Money's partner L&C > Mortgage rates calculator > Find the right mortgage for you To help our readers find the best mortgage, This is Money has partnered with the UK's leading fee-free broker L&C. This is Money and L&C's mortgage calculator can let you compare deals to see which ones suit your home's value and level of deposit. You can compare fixed rate lengths, from two-year fixes, to five-year fixes and ten-year fixes. If you're ready to find your next mortgage, why not use This is Money and L&C's online Mortgage Finder. It will search 1,000's of deals from more than 90 different lenders to discover the best deal for you.
