A third of Labour voters back the cancellation of people with whose views they disagree as a major study finds that more than half of Sir Keir Starmer's supporters believe Britain is institutionally racist.
Research into the social views of Labour and Tory voters by the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank found that the Opposition's voters were far more likely to hold 'woke' opinions while 37 per cent agreed that 'the UK has failed its people' and was 'an embarrassment'.
The study suggests Britain is on its way to becoming as divided as the United States, where so-called 'culture wars' determine party loyalty more than economics and which is experiencing extreme polarisation.
Some 33 per cent of Labour voters - against 18 per cent of Conservatives - said they supported the idea of 'cancel culture', agreeing that there should be 'consequences' for those who say or do anything deemed hurtful to minorities. And some 52 per cent of their backers believe 'the UK is an institutionally racist and discriminatory nation'.
Overall, 37 per cent of Britons were familiar with the term 'woke', which refers to people who are sensitive to social issues such as racism and discrimination based on sexuality and gender.
Among the 17 per cent who said they were very or totally woke, there was a major political divide between 25 per cent of Labour voters and just 11 per cent of Conservatives. The findings also contain a warning for big businesses tempted to display their woke credentials, with only 9 per cent of those surveyed believing that companies should speak out on social issues.
Study leader Dr Frank Luntz, a student contemporary of Boris Johnson who began his polling career by canvassing opinions on the future Prime Minister's run for the Oxford Union presidency, said last night: 'There is more that unites the UK than divides it.
Mr Luntz said the culture war and cancel culture had 'already done significant damage to our system in the United States' and the UK is on the same path, with many voters split along party lines
Frank Luntz, who helped the US Republican Party with its messaging for almost 30 years, conducted a major examination of UK voter attitudes
