MIGRATION Watch UK published an analysis yesterday that demonstrates the bulk of the adult population – some 30million – want to see immigration reduced. Their breakdown of the data from seven key opinion polls conducted since spring 2018 underlines the strength of public opinion on immigration.
Taken together, the surveys show that 30million people wish to see a reduction in immigration, and that more than 18million of these would like the numbers to come down significantly. In contrast, only a small minority wish to see an increase in immigration.
Migration Watch believe it is no longer acceptable for the government to continue ducking an issue which is of clear concern to the majority of the UK adult population. Their advice to the new Home Secretary, Priti Patel, is that she must ensure a complete overhaul of our immigration system to bring about a much-needed decrease in the number of those coming here.
The Conservatives have rowed back on three consecutive manifesto commitments to meet the 100,000 a year target; now they have one last chance to restore credibility in the immigration system and to satisfy their own voters, 88 per cent of whom support reductions.
Commenting on the findings Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, says that ‘they demonstrate that Migration Watch is, indeed, the voice of 30million. The government really cannot pretend that the issue is “control” rather than the numbers themselves. The public very clearly want to see a large reduction in the scale of immigration which is changing the country before our eyes. Public confidence in the immigration system will only be restored when numbers start to fall considerably.’
The detailed evidence for Migration Watch’s analysis and conclusion can be found here in their recently published briefing paper.
