UK politics must ‘disagree well’ or risk toxic levels of mistrust, thinktanks warn

Exclusive: Joint statement before conference on community cohesion calls for policies to ‘restitch’ society

UK politics must learn to “disagree well” or risk a descent into toxic, US-style culture wars, three influential thinktanks with links to the Conservatives and Labour have warned in a joint statement.

Before a conference on Friday focusing on community cohesion, the Onward, Labour Together and Create Streets thinktanks said that as well as promoting political accord, there was a need to tackle crumbling towns and wider urban decay to fix fraying social bonds.