UK a ‘powder keg’ of social tensions a year on from summer riots, report warns

Sajid Javid and Jon Cruddas said last summer’s riots ‘laid bare the fragility of social cohesion in the UK’. Photograph: Drik/Getty Images

The UK is a “powder keg” of social tensions, with a third of people rarely meeting anyone from different backgrounds, research has found.

A report from the thinktank British Future and the social cohesion group Belong Network found that a year on from last summer’s riots, there was a risk of unrest being reignited unless urgent action was taken to address issues of polarisation and division.