Read the poll results in full

ANTISOCIAL behaviour and immigration are emerging as the issues that worry Britons the most, according to a YouGov poll published by The Sunday Times today.

People are also generally gloomy about the state of the country, with the majority believing that Britain is getting worse and will not improve in the next five years.

More than half of all men surveyed, and four out of 10 women, said they would rather live abroad if given a choice.

However, there is some good news for Gordon Brown in his first year as prime minister.

Perceptions that Iraq is a worrying problem have halved since a similar poll last December when Tony Blair was leader.

There has also been a patriotic upsurge, with three-quarters of the country saying they are proud to be British.

The prime minister, who has made “Britishness” one of his key themes, will be particularly pleased that the number of Scots who share this sentiment has risen from 64% to 73% over the year.

However, the “state of the nation” poll of more than 1,500 people suggests that politicians are failing to tackle antisocial behaviour problems such as graffiti and vandalism. This was the biggest day-to-day worry among those surveyed and the sharpest rise: up from 44% last year to 59% this year.

Concerns about immigration were expressed by almost six out of 10 of those questioned. This is a key issue with Conservative voters, with three-quarters listing migrants as one of their main worries.

The threat of terrorism, worries about personal finances and crime remain an anxiety for about one in three people. Most believe that man-made global warming is threatening the planet, but only 24% listed the issue as something that was worrying them. Just 9% said Iraq was a major concern.

While there is a great deal of pessimism about the condition of Britain as a whole, people appear much more upbeat about their own lives and prospects.

When asked to reflect on whether 2007 had been a good year personally, four out of 10 people said it had. By contrast, fewer than one in 10 people thinks Britain as a whole has enjoyed a good year.

Forecasts of an economic downturn have clearly hit home with many people believing that their finances will become tighter in 2008.

Overall, though, six out of 10 people said that they were optimistic about their personal prospects in the coming year.

Indeed, most people describe themselves as happy, especially if they are aged over 55. Half the respondents said that having more money was the one thing that would make them happier, as opposed to more friends (just 8%) and a more fulfilling job (5%).

On the other hand we are most likely to be upset by rudeness, bad language, loutish behaviour and poor service.

Half the people questioned said they were fed up with call centres and 14% were irritated by the weather. In fact, one in 10 people said the climate would be the one factor that might make them emigrate.

New Zealand is the place that most would go to (20%), closely followed by Australia (19%) and then Canada (11%).

Once again Jane Tomlinson, the fundraiser who died from cancer in September, was voted person of the year.

Her heroic feats – such as cycling across America and completing a full ironman triathlon – while battling with her illness helped to raise more than £1.75m for charity.

Tomlinson polled twice as many votes as the man of the year – John Smeaton, the Glasgow airport baggage hand-ler who fought with a terrorist car bomber.

When it comes to political popularity, the personal polls remain bad for Brown (58% negative and 34% positive) and good for David Cameron, the Conservative leader (32% negative and 54% positive).

Their parties remain neck and neck. The Conservative lead is down from 13 percentage points a fortnight ago to just five points, which would give the party a similar number of seats to Labour if there were a general election.

“A significant slice of the electorate remains volatile,” said Peter Kellner, chairman of YouGov. “It’s not yet clear whether, or where, the public will settle down. The next election remains wide open.”

Kellner said that perhaps Brown’s biggest challenge would be to persuade people that the Labour government had improved life in Britain – less than a third of his own supporters, and only one in nine voters generally, believed this.

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