Has the public really had enough of experts?

During the EU referendum, Michael Gove declared that the public ‘have had enough of experts.’ Both sides contested the others’ facts and figures and in the aftermath, some commentators have declared this a ‘post-truth’ age. Meanwhile US Presidential candidate Donald Trump has received extremely low ratings on truthfulness from US fact-checkers.

This joint event from the Institute for Government and the Royal Statistical Society looked at why facts and analysis failed to cut through to citizens during the referendum campaign and what this means for future debates and discussions on difficult policy issues – from immigration to NHS funding. We also looked at what this means for politicians, policy makers and political decision making and whether it is possible to bridge the gap that appears to have emerged between expert views and public opinion. 

These issues were discussed by a panel, comprising: 

• Oliver Wright, Policy Editor, The Times
• Deborah Mattinson, Founding Director, Britain Thinks
• Hetan Shah, Executive Director, Royal Statistical Society
• Will Moy, Director, Full Fact, the UK’s independent fact-checking charity

This event was Chaired by Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government.

This event was a collaboration between the Institute for Government and the Royal Statistical Society, with the support of the Carnegie UK Trust.

Read our polling on this topic – Trust in govt is growing – but it needs to deliver.