A damning opinion poll on Tony Blair's decade as Prime Minister has produced a few positive results, among them the finding that nearly two-thirds of people think Britain is a better country for LGB people to live in. 61% of respondents said they thought Britain was a better country for gay people, in the Observer poll of 2,034 adults taken last month. Political analysts said that the majorities who thought that Britain was better for gays and also for ethnic groups (51%) could also have a negative effect, as it gives the impression that Labour has only ‘looked after' minorities. Last month Tony Blair spoke at a fundraising dinner for LGBT lobby group Stonewall. Representatives of leading UK businesses were in attendance as the Prime Minister spoke about the changes in British society since he came to office in 1997. "By removing prejudice and discrimination, and by enabling people to stand proud as what they are, it has had an impact that I think is far more profound in the way the country thinks about itself. "If you allow discrimination to fester, that is a complete rejection of that modernising and civilising notion," he told the assembled crowd of nearly 500 diners. The Observer poll results contained little other good news for Tony Blair. Findings revealed that the majority did not think that his flagship policies on crime and the NHS had worked, 69% thought Britain a more dangerous country now than in 1997 and 58% disagreed that it was happier. Ref: Pinknews.co.uk (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 11th April 2007 - 12:00pm