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Multilateral Foreign Policy > Published by Shamik Das, March 9th 2011 at 5:57 pm

Narrow majority in favour of intervention

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As the Gaddafi regime continues to murder, maim and terrorise the Libyan people, a poll today shows a small majority in favour of using military force to prevent foreign leaders launching attacks against their own people. The March Times/Populus poll reveals almost half of respondents (49 per cent) agree Britain should be prepared to use force if necessary, with more than half (53 per cent) saying it’s wrong to support tyrannical regimes “to preserve stability”.

Poll-on-attitudes-to-military-intervention
Fifty three per cent agree it has been wrong for Britain “to support undemocratic governments and leaders in places like North Africa and the Middle East in order to preserve stability in the region”, with only 38 per cent agreeing, while 86 per cent agree it is the government’s “responsibility to rescue British nationals working abroad when their safety is threatened by political unrest on the ground”.

On the economy, when asked who they trusted “to manage the economy in the best interests of Britain”, 44 per cent said David Cameron, Nick Clegg and George Osborne, against a third for Ed Miliband and Ed Balls; however, when asked if Britain “will be a fairer country” at the end of this parliament, only 40 per cent agreed it would, with more than half (52 per cent) disagreeing, and when asked if Britain “will be a more prosperous country”, 43 per cent agreed against 50 per cent disagreeing.

The final question asked how, if the chancellor “had additional revenues at his disposal” at the Budget, he should use them: 28 per cent said “to cut taxes”; 38 per cent “to limit the cuts in public spending”; and 30 per cent “to reduce the debt and deficit more quickly”.

• Tomorrow, Left Foot Forward will have more on the options for intervention in Libya, and the political manoeuvring over the proposed No Fly Zone.

  • http://twitter.com/khaledhishma/status/45549312230432768 Khaled Hishma

    RT @leftfootfwd: Narrow majority in favour of intervention: http://bit.ly/ea3fpt reports @ShamikDas #Libya #gaddafi #feb17

  • http://twitter.com/clivemcr/status/45569982934958080 Clive

    RT @leftfootfwd: Narrow majority in favour of intervention http://bit.ly/gmEPRf oh dear, are we being softened up for 'intervention' again?

  • http://twitter.com/grannygal/status/45571220514680832 Sarah G

    RT @clivemcr: RT @leftfootfwd: Narrow majority in favour of intervention http://bit.ly/gmEPRf oh dear, are we being softened up for 'int …

  • Sarah Galloway

    RT @clivemcr: RT @leftfootfwd: Narrow majority in favour of intervention http://bit.ly/gmEPRf oh dear, are we being softened up for 'int …

  • Mr. Sensible

    I’m not sure what to make of this; I think it was right for the previous government to try and bring the Libyan regime in from the cold to stablize the Middle East and get Libya to give up its nuclear weapons, but I’m really not sure about the issue of a No-fly Zone.

    In any case, what position is the MOD in to enforce such a zone?

  • David Mullen

    Why not leave it to the Libyans to decide their own destiny? All that the UK Government cares about in relation to Africa or the Middle East is access to raw materials and a market for military hardware.

  • http://eoin-clarke.blogspot.com/ Éoin Clarke

    125,000 people, 1/4 of the former population of Fallujah still live in tent cities. Of the 65 Mosques damaged in F, none of have been rebuilt. Only three days ago a market bomb killed 20. Last Tuesday the American army killed 9 children in Afghanistan. The west has yet to mop up the damage it caused in the last decade, hat gives them the right to start afresh…?

    Tony Blair has a $5million a year contract with M0rgan Stanley, a £1 contract with one Kuwaiti oil firm and a South Korean oil firm who are drilling in Iraq.

    The only WMD to be found in Iraq are white men drilling

    Blair currently uses a £30 private jet as a loaned gift from Kagame the Rwandan leader. This comes at a time when the UK has increased its aid to Kagame’s regime. The said regime has stepped up significantly its repression.

    there is currently a conflicy being waged in the Ivory coast that no one seems to care about.
    Algeria witnessed more than a dozen deaths due to violence yesterday
    Janja Weed militias still maurade and attack innocent Sudanese civilians.

    The west did nothing to protect the 900,000 who were killed in Rwanda, or the 250,000 killed in Darfur.

    The level of hypocrisy in the white man’s world is astounding, and the total and utter lack of consistency means that they cannot and should not be trusted to handle any intervention in Libya.

  • Rupert Read