Immigration continues to dominate the agenda and divide the government.
Rishi Sunak has been in crisis this week over his Rwandan policy to tackle illegal immigration. The plan is to send people who arrive in the UK irregularly (such as crossing the English Channel in small boats) on a one-way trip to Rwanda, where the government will decide on their refugee status.
But the plan, which has not been implemented despite being introduced 20 months ago, continues to face difficulties due to anger from conservative Conservative MPs who think it does not go far enough. Immigration minister Robert Jenrick resigned over the policy on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a separate Conservative Party infighting began a few weeks ago when the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed legal net migration to the UK to peak at 745,000 by December 2022: a record high and three times higher than before Brexit high. .
On Friday the Archbishop of Canterbury waded into the debate, telling the House of Lords that the government was “rightfully concerned” with lowering legal immigration figures but said new family visa rules required Britons to earn at least £38,700 to sponsor foreigners. It will have a “negative impact” on the marriage and family relationships of family members seeking a visa.
But as Westminster continues to debate illegal and legal immigration, what do the public think about the issue? Here Yahoo News UK looks at the data.
Recommended Resources
Where does immigration rank on the public’s list of priorities?
Immigration is the fourth most important issue for Britons, according to pollster Ipsos’s monthly “issue index”; However, the survey was conducted between 8 and 14 November before it hit the news agenda. The latest survey of 1,008 adults found the top issue was the economy (35%), followed by inflation (25%) and the NHS (24%). 22% of respondents mentioned immigration.
How satisfied are people with the current situation?
I’m not happy at all. For nearly nine years, Ipsos and British Future have been running an “immigration attitudes tracker”. According to the latest survey conducted in July, two-thirds of the public (66%) are dissatisfied with the government’s way of dealing with immigration. This is the highest level in the tracker’s history.
This was also the highest level of dissatisfaction since the EU referendum in 2016. Meanwhile, in the latest survey, only 12% of respondents said they were satisfied with the government’s stance on immigration.
As Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, says: “Everyone is disappointed by the government’s approach to immigration, especially asylum seekers and small boats – but for different reasons. Liberals think it is inhumane, while radicals think it has so far failed to deliver.” What they have in common is a sense that the government is not doing a good job.”
What do people want to happen?
According to the last tracker, almost half, 49 percent, think immigration should be reduced. This is well below the 67% who said this when the tracker was launched in February 2015.
Meanwhile, just over a fifth (22%) want immigration to increase. This rate corresponds to 10% in February 2015. Additionally, 22% currently think immigration should remain the same.
The government has been accused by critics of focusing on immigrants to revive its flagging fortunes in the polls, and it could be working. This week’s tightening of visa rules to reduce legal immigration comes after Sunak announced in January that “stopping the boats” was one of his top five policies, and there has been a noticeable increase in numbers since then, so people want to reduce overall immigration numbers, following the previous trend it reverses.
But over the same period, the number of people saying immigration should be increased has also been increasing, meaning the government is in danger of attracting voters but turning them away.
What do people think about the impact of immigration?
It seems that British people’s attitudes are slowly starting to change. More people think immigration has a positive impact on the UK (43%) than think it has a negative impact (37%). However, this negative outlook has increased from last year’s level of 29%.
Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos, said: “The issue of immigration has been high on the political and public agenda this year, with these latest findings particularly timely given dissatisfaction with the government’s stance on canal crossings. “Although attitudes still remain more positive than before the EU referendum, we can see that the increased interest is reflected in growing concerns about numbers and the impact of immigration.”