UK misses its empire more than other ex-colonial powers, 33% think colonies 'better off', poll finds

The British way of colonialism has often been a topic of vigorous discussion -- for the world and UK alike. A little more for the latter as a recent polls has suggested Britain misses its empire more than other post-colonial powers.

A YouGov survey, shared with the Guardian, had a shocking number of people -- over a quarter of those surveyed -- saying they would still like to have an empire. These people believe the British Empire left its former colonies "better off", succinctly reaffirming the notion about how Britain educates citizens about its colonial past vis-a-vis how the rest of the world feels about it.

The said results have been interpreted by some as "a proxy for high levels of nationalist sentiment," particularly in the context of Brexit.

Majority of the responses said their former empires were "neither something to be proud nor ashamed of". These responders include 37 per cent of Britons. Nearly 50 per cent said they wouldn't like Britain to still have an empire.

Oku Ekpenyon, founder of Memorial 2007, a campaign for a slavery memorial to be built in London, described the results as 'alarming'.

Nigel Biggar, regius professor of moral and pastoral theology at Christ Church College, Oxford, however, begged to differ. He said, "The fact that only a minority of 32 per cent said empire was something to be proud of meant that if the post-colonialists really want to hound imperial flag-wavers, they should go after the Dutch."

Popular opinion also says that the likelihood that a country believes it left its former colonies better off appears to be correlated to the extent and openness of the national debate about empire.

Only Netherlands appeared to be more proud of its imperial history than the Britain. Half of the Dutch, in the survey, said they were more proud than ashamed of their history.

Germans were the least likely to be proud of its colonial past -- amounting to only 9 per cent.

The data on empire attitudes was collected between June 10, 2019 and December 17, 2019.