Newsnight immigration poll

As part of a Newsnight debate on immigration the BBC have commissioned a new poll from ORB on the subject. The overall findings are similar to those in the Ipsos MORI poll for the Sun - only 24% of people think the government is handling immigration well, with 72% thinking they are handling it poorly.

A slight plurality of people think that immigration does more help than it does harm to the UK (by 44% to 41%). People are also more positive when asked about their own local area - 37% think immigration has has a positive effect on their community, only 27% think it is has a negative effect. Generally speaking though most people think that immigration has had little or no effect on their local area - 59% think it has either had just a little effect, or not effect at all.

ORB then asked about several potential risks connected with immigration. The idea that immigratrants might pose a threat to public order and safety met with the lowest agreement (36%). On the ideas of immigration posing a threat to employment 52% agreed, 48% agreed that a lack of immigration might damage the economy. The most widespread agreement (62%) was with the idea that immigration might lead to Britain losing its identity.

Looking at the two polls together there seems to be very hostility to immigrants themselves, people didn't think they were criminals or scroungers (quite the opposite in fact, they think they hard working). Relatively few people think immigration has had much of a negative effect on their own area. Concerns are less specific, and more effect the effect on the country as a whole. On balance people tend to recognise that immigration has a positive effect on the country; they just think there is too much of it. The concerns the polls reveal, about the ability of public services to cope, the pressure on employment opportunities and the change on the character of Britain are all ones related to the sheer amount of immigration into Britain.