Post by abbey1227 on Dec 5, 2022 14:20:08 GMT
Majority of Britons think migrant numbers are ‘too high’ in fresh warning to Tories, poll shows
Story by Richard Vaughan • Yesterday 10:11 AM
The majority of the British public believe the number of migrants living in the UK is too high, new figures show, in a further sign that voters do not think Rishi Sunak has a grip on the issue.
Exclusive polling for i by BMG Research shows that 63 per cent of people surveyed said they felt that the numbers of migrants was “too high”.
It comes less than two weeks after official figures showed record numbers of migrants had entered the UK last year, with net migration up by 500,000 on the year before.
Tellingly, the belief that immigration is too great is shared across the political spectrum with 52 per cent of respondents who voted Labour in 2019 agreeing with the statement, 50 per cent of Liberal Democrat voters and 84 per cent of people who voted Tory.
The sentiment that migration numbers are too high in the UK was held regardless of whether people were told of the recent record increase in numbers, the polling of 1,571 people found.
Yiota Papouridou, Pollster at BMG, said this showed that the public had a “fairly entrenched view, with a large majority believing numbers to be too high”.
“Despite one of the key planks of Brexit being to take back control of immigration, almost half of the public believe leaving the EU has actually had a negative impact on migration levels. Strikingly, a majority also believe Labour is best suited to tackle immigration over the Conservatives.”
The widely held belief on the issue is a primary reason why Rishi Sunak is focusing his attention on producing a raft of measures to bring numbers down.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said over the weekend that migration would be a problem for “many years to come”, as he warned the current numbers of people coming into the country were “unsustainable”.
Mr Jenrick added that people arriving in the UK from Albania should be barred from claiming asylum as they come from a “demonstrably safe” country.
He also highlighted the area of student visas as an area “ripe for reform”, as official ONS figures showed that the majority of the rise in migration came from international students and their dependents into the country.
“We’ve got very liberal rules on students bringing their family members with them and that is something that we are interested in reviewing,” he told GB News. He added that some people were using student visas as a “backdoor” to bring families into the country.
Story by Richard Vaughan • Yesterday 10:11 AM
The majority of the British public believe the number of migrants living in the UK is too high, new figures show, in a further sign that voters do not think Rishi Sunak has a grip on the issue.
Exclusive polling for i by BMG Research shows that 63 per cent of people surveyed said they felt that the numbers of migrants was “too high”.
It comes less than two weeks after official figures showed record numbers of migrants had entered the UK last year, with net migration up by 500,000 on the year before.
Tellingly, the belief that immigration is too great is shared across the political spectrum with 52 per cent of respondents who voted Labour in 2019 agreeing with the statement, 50 per cent of Liberal Democrat voters and 84 per cent of people who voted Tory.
The sentiment that migration numbers are too high in the UK was held regardless of whether people were told of the recent record increase in numbers, the polling of 1,571 people found.
Yiota Papouridou, Pollster at BMG, said this showed that the public had a “fairly entrenched view, with a large majority believing numbers to be too high”.
“Despite one of the key planks of Brexit being to take back control of immigration, almost half of the public believe leaving the EU has actually had a negative impact on migration levels. Strikingly, a majority also believe Labour is best suited to tackle immigration over the Conservatives.”
The widely held belief on the issue is a primary reason why Rishi Sunak is focusing his attention on producing a raft of measures to bring numbers down.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said over the weekend that migration would be a problem for “many years to come”, as he warned the current numbers of people coming into the country were “unsustainable”.
Mr Jenrick added that people arriving in the UK from Albania should be barred from claiming asylum as they come from a “demonstrably safe” country.
He also highlighted the area of student visas as an area “ripe for reform”, as official ONS figures showed that the majority of the rise in migration came from international students and their dependents into the country.
“We’ve got very liberal rules on students bringing their family members with them and that is something that we are interested in reviewing,” he told GB News. He added that some people were using student visas as a “backdoor” to bring families into the country.
Mr Sunak is expected to unveil a package of policies to tackle migrant numbers in the coming weeks.
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