Article by Annabel Hayes

Photo by Vadim Sherbakov on Unsplash

“You’ll never live like common people. You’ll never do whatever common people do.” Thirty years on, and Pulp’s Common People still rings true. Britain, the polite nation of tea, football, queuing, and terrible weather, remains deeply divided by class, yet obsessed with the idea of pretending it is not. Unlike other countries, class in the UK is not just an economic status, but one defi ned by factors such as accent, education, and cultural capital. Despite the claims of meritocracy, class remains a defining and damaging hallmark of everyday life.

A good basis for analysing Britain’s class system is within Westminster itself. Since World War II, only two Prime Ministers, James Callaghan and Liz Truss, were educated at non-fee-paying schools [1]. Of the fourteen that attended fee-paying schools, five attended the most prestigious of them all, Eton [2]. The “old boys’ network” in British politics is not a stereotype, but as Simon Kuper argues in Chums, it reflects the public school-to-Oxbridge pipeline that dominates British politics. Boris Johnson’s 2019 cabinet included 65% privately educated ministers, and half were educated at Oxford or Cambridge [3]. A government so unrepresentative of the nation it governs (just 7% of British people are privately educated) will inevitably be disconnected from the ordinary British experience, reinforcing elite policy-making and forcing those underrepresented to feel left behind [4]. This dominance in the epicentre of power mirrors a wider trend in Britain, a widening inequality of both influence and wealth.

Despite being one of the world’s largest economies (the GDP per capita is $52,636.8 [5]), our wealth distribution is extremely uneven. The top 10% have 35.7% of the total income, with the top 1% holding 12.7%. [6]. This inequality is widening, with the wealth gap having grown by 50% between 2016 and 2024 [7]. As Wilkinson and Pickett argue in The Spirit Level, wider income gaps mean more societal issues, such as worse educational performances, higher rates of mental illness and lower levels of trust [8]. Economic imbalance, whilst not the only factor in class inequality, erodes social cohesion and faith in our country, fuelling resentment, especially for those who feel invisible.

Economic inequality is reinforced by rigid social structures, which make class boundaries difficult to break. As Brankovic (2016) states, citizenship and parental background explain around 60-70% of your income. This would suggest that opportunity is largely inherited, rather than earned, in Britain. As Selina Todd explores in Snakes and Ladders: The Great British Social Mobility Myth, barriers to class mobility are entrenched in society. Those born into privilege benefit from accent bias, elite education, and inherited connections and networks, forging innate advantages, whilst working-class people face restricted opportunity due to these invisible barriers. Our limited social mobility, as Wilkinson and Pickett explore, is intertwined with our high income inequality, perpetuating the cycle which ensures both privilege and disadvantage are passed down for generations [9].

This persistence of class rigidity in the UK fuels political disillusionment. The widening gap between the ordinary people and the elites has left many feeling alienated from a system that they feel has left them behind. This discontent has become a powerful force in politics, being seen in the rise of populism and far-right movements, such as Reform UK. In the 2024 election, they garnered 20% of their votes amongst the C2DE social grade voters, compared to just 11% among those in ABC1, and performed very well amongst those from lower-income household [10]. The sense of being ‘left behind’ has become a fertile breeding ground for much frustration, evidently seen in the Tommy Robinson “Unite the Kingdom” march in September 2025, which drew in an estimated 150,000 people [11]. These movements indicate a society where class determines and consequently divides those who feel heard and those who feel invisible, and unless the inequalities that fuel this political discontent are addressed, Britain risks entrenching this cycle of economic (and societal) inequality and political disillusionment.

Britain’s class system may no longer be defi ned by the rigid hierarchies of the past, as seen in Downton Abbey or a Charles Dickens novel, but its influence remains incredibly powerful. The myth of meritocracy prospers because it is comfortable. It tells the working-class that their hard work will be quantified in success, and the privileged that their advantages are earned. However, without addressing the barriers that hinder progress, we will become evermore divided, and genuine progress will be impossible. We must make our political institutions more representative, prioritising advancing deprived regions and schools, and we need to prioritise equity over equality. Until we face head-on the reality that meritocracy is a myth, the UK’s profound inequality and unyielding class boundaries will persist.

References

1. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities/2024/04/16/prime-ministers-origins-impact-their-political-worldviews/#:~:text=The%20educational%20anda
2. ibid
3. https://www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion/all-news-opinion/65-of-boris-johnsons-new-cabinet-attended-independent-schools/
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/elitism-in-britain-2019
5. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?name_desc=true
6. https://wir2022.wid.worldand/
7. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities/2024/10/29/the-uks-wealth-gap-has-grown-by-50-in-eight-years/
8. Wilkinson, R.G & Pickett, K. (2010). The Spirit Level: Why equality is better for everyone. London: Penguin.
9. ibid
10. https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49978-how-britain-voted-in-the-2024-general-election
11. Predicted, estimated and attendance for the Unite the Kingdom and counter-demonstrations | Metropolitan Police

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