You don't have to agree with Vladimir Putin that liberalism is obsolete to see that it is in trouble. Across the West, populist movements are flourishing, and in some cases taking power, with platforms that take on the established liberal order - rejecting free market economics from the left and cultural liberalism from the right.

With our own politics fragmenting and parties led by Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn - both leaders with extreme views - attracting significant amounts of votes, it might seem that the UK is falling prey to the same trends. Can we just attribute this to the polarising politics around Brexit, or is there something more profound happening? Are we entering, as some people claim, in a post-liberal era?

For the last 60 years, the UK has experienced a long bull run of freedom-expanding politics. From Roy Jenkins’s reforms to divorce, abortion and the death penalty in the 60s to Margaret Thatcher's economic reforms of the 1980s and Tony Blair social policies of the 00s, we have been living in an increasingly liberal society. The themes of throwing off the shackles and abandoning tradition have dominated political discourse. But our research at Onward suggests, in Jim Callaghan’s famous words, a sea change is taking place.