43% of British adults, including 46% of adults living in the North, say that replacing the House of Lords with a citizens' assembly would increase their trust in politics
Nearly a third (29%) of all North West citizens polled as part of a wider national poll into trust and political reform wanted to see the House of Lords replaced with a citizens’ assembly, higher than any other geographical group except the East Midlands (28%)
Polling published today on trust and House of Lords reform show that 82% of those living in the North West say they do not trust politicians to tell the truth.
29% of those living in the North West say they want to see the House of Lords replaced with a citizens assembly, higher than all other geographical areas polled apart from the East Midlands (28%), and higher than the national average of 22%.
The polling was carried out by YouGov for the Sortition Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation delivering citizens’ assemblies globally. Last year Sortition Foundation launched the 858 Project to advocate for upgrading UK politics through permanent citizens’ assemblies of ordinary people. This includes a particular focus on greater democracy for Greater Manchester through such a permanent citizens’ assembly.
Sortition Foundation Director James Robertson said:
‘There’s more people from Eton in the House of Lords than there are people from the North West. We know that we’re getting short-changed by politicians - but we trust each other to make decisions in our best interest.
‘That’s why there’s a growing movement for a citizens assembly in greater Manchester. We need to see people like us having more say over the decisions which affect us - at both local and national level.’
The option of replacing the House of Lords with a citizens’ assembly is the most popular for all those polled across the UK (22%) higher than the options of an elected second chamber (17%) or simply removing hereditary peers (14%).
When asked who they would trust more: MPs or members of a citizens’ assembly to make policy recommendations that are in their best interest, 57% of British adults said members of a citizens’ assembly, compared to 13% for MPs.
The polling was carried out as part of the 858 Project’s campaign to widen civic participation beyond jury service to other forms of decision-making, including at a national level by replacing the House of Lords with a rolling citizens’ assembly - a House of Citizens.
Other results from the polling, which has been carried out annually for the past three years included:
- Replacing the House of Lords with a citizens’ assembly would increase trust in politics for 43% of British adults
- 78% of adults polled, and 82% of North West voters, said they didn't trust MPs to tell the truth
- More than six times as many (59%) adults living in the North West trust members of a citizens’ assembly to make policy decisions in their best interests than trust MPs to do so (9%)
ENDS
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NOTES FOR EDITORS
- A citizen’s assembly is a group of people, selected to be representative of the UK population, who are brought together to hear evidence, discuss an issue and reach an informed conclusion.
- The 858 project campaigns to embed deliberative democracy, including replacing the House of Lords with a House of Citizens: www.858.org.uk
- Detailed YouGov2025 results
- All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,009 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 23rd-24th April 2025. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).