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Half of British voters believe Nigel Farage is personally “responsible” for the riots which broke out across the UK earlier this month.
Polling by Savanta seen by HuffPost UK shows that 51% of the public blame the Reform UK leader for the disorder, which led to hundreds of arrests and tough prison sentences for some of those involved.
Farage came just behind former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson, who was blamed by 54% of those polled.
Billionaire X owner Elon Musk came next on 44%, with prime minister Keir Starmer being blamed by 40%.
Farage has faced a storm of criticism over a video he posted within hours of the killing of three young girls attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.
In it, he suggested “the truth is being withheld from us” by the police and repeated misinformation that the alleged killer was being watched by the security services.
A vigil for the victims, who were all under 10 years old, later descended into violence, sparking far-right riots throughout the country.
Farage has since admitted that he was repeating false claims made on social media by, among others, Andrew Tate.
He has defended his actions by insisting he was only trying to find out “the truth”.
The poll of 2,237 people, carried out between August 9 and 11, also showed that 64% of people believe the police had dealt with the riots well – despite claims of “two-tier” policing by, among others, Farage.
Just over half (52%) said Starmer had done well during the crisis, with 38% saying he did badly.
Elsewhere, the poll found that 82% of British adults think those who took part were most to blame for the civil unrest, with 75% blaming far-right organisations and 73% saying social media companies were responsible.
Nearly two-thirds of the public (64%) said the UK’s immigration policy was the cause of the riots, with 59% blaming the killings in Southport.
To prevent the riots happening again, 37% of UK adults think “violent protestors [need] to be charged quickly and given custodial sentence to deter others”, while 30% believe concerns about immigration need to be addressed.
Only one in 10 say addressing social inequality will prevent another outbreak of unrest.
Chris Hopkins, Savanta’s political research director, said: “Contrary to online talking points, the country is broadly more likely to say Keir Starmer did well in managing the situation than not.
“Our research probably makes grimmer reading for Nigel Farage, who is only behind former EDL leader Tommy Robinson in being seen as ‘responsible’ for the violent protests.
“The public think that swift justice for violent protestors is the best way to stop them happening again – a course of action being followed by the government. The next thing they think needs to happen is public concerns about immigration being addressed.”
Reform UK has been contacted for comment.
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