So before you choose your preferred destination to emigrate to, hold on a second. Let’s just review the current emigration essentials – nuts and bolts, warts and all. There seems to be little argument that the quality of life in the UK is deteriorating fast, yet fewer Brits than ever before are actually boarding planes in search of a new life abroad. David Fuller attempts to find out why and to uncover some of the stumbling blocks.
In September 2011, a study carried out by comparison website uSwitch reported that the United Kingdom is currently the worst place to live in Europe. The study – which took into account a range of factors including working hours, VAT, holidays, spending on health and education, and hours of sunshine – found that only 5 per cent of the Brits surveyed claimed to be truly happy with their life in the UK.
Households in Britain particularly struggled with a high cost of living, with food and diesel prices the highest in Europe and unleaded petrol, alcohol and cigarettes all costing more than the European average, the report said. And this wasn’t the only bad news revealed by the study: Brits also receive the lowest holiday entitlement in Europe in addition to having one of the highest retirement ages – an age which could soon be set to rise if the current government gets its way.
Add to the mix a ‘broken society’ – the biggest concern among those surveyed – and a perceived increase in crime and violence on the street, and you can start to see how uSwitch arrived at its conclusion. Whether you agree with the company’s findings or not, it’s hard to argue against the belief that life in Britain has been in something of a downward spiral for a good few years now.
In fact, 20 years after The Sun’s famous ‘will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights’ headline appeared on the day of the 1992 election (in reference to the mass exodus that was predicted if Neil Kinnock’s Labour was elected – it wasn’t) it would seem that the same headline could just as easily still be used today. Or so you would think.
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