Two in three Britons are dissatisfied with the Conservative government’s handling of immigration as thousands of illegals continue to pour into the country and legal mass migration climbed to record levels despite Tory promises to handle the issue after Brexit.
The latest survey from the Immigration Attitudes Tracker by the Ipsos polling firm and the British Future think tank has shown the level of dissatisfaction among the British public with the handling of immigration has hit the highest level since before the EU referendum.
According to the polling, two-thirds (66 per cent) of the British people are dissatisfied with the government’s performance on immigration, the highest level since 2015. In comparison, just 12 per cent claimed to be satisfied with the status quo on immigration.
When broken down by party allegiance, just 22 per cent of Tory voters were satisfied by their party’s performance on immigration, compared to 56 per cent who were dissatisfied and 26 per cent who were “very dissatisfied”. Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of Labour supporters (73 per cent) said that they did not approve of the government’s handling of immigration.
However, there were differing reasons among the left and right for their critical view, with Labour supporters being unhappy with the government supposedly “Creating a negative or fearful environment for migrants” at 46 per cent and “Not treating asylum-seekers well” at 45 per cent. In contrast, 82 per cent of Conservatives pointed to the government “not doing enough to stop Channel crossings” as their top reason, compared to just nine per cent citing “creating a negative or fearful environment for migrants”.
Overall, the top reason for dissatisfaction given, according to the think thank, was the government’s failure to stop illegal migrants from crossing the English Channel in people smuggler-operated boats, with even 46 per cent of Labour voters believing that the government is not doing enough to stop illegal boat migrants.
More than 800 illegals made the journey across the waterway over the weekend, taking the total for the year has reached 22,263, according to the BBC. While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has attempted to claim that its policies have made an impact, the crossings are only slightly down from the record-setting pace set last year when 25,043 arrived by the end of August.
On the issue of legal migration to the UK, nearly half of respondents (48 per cent) said that they supported decreasing the number of foreigners allowed into the country, an increase from 42 per cent last year. Just 22 per cent said they believed that the current level is correct, while the same number thought that more migrants should be allowed into the country.
Despite representing a plurality, the percentage of people wanting to see legal immigration reduced is still lower than in 2015 before the Brexit vote when 67 per cent were in favour of cutting migration.
Last year, net migration hit a record 606,000, with the post-Brexit immigration system ushered in by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson vastly expanding the number of people qualified to come to the country through loosening requirements such as lowering salary thresholds from £35,800 to just £20,960 for so-called “skilled workers”.
Responding to the latest polling figures, Migration Watch UK Chairman Alp Mehmet said in comments provided to Breitbart London: “As this polling implies, there isn’t much trust in either of the main parties to get the balance on immigration right. We have long known of the public’s frustration with the government’s failure to deal with the small boats and to remove those crossing the Channel illegally. However, it is also clear that there is little confidence in Labour coming up with a solution.”
“Meanwhile, runaway legal net migration is roughly ten times the number of Channel crossers and yet neither party is keen to discuss this. The present level of net migration of 600,000 will have devastating consequences on the whole country if it is allowed to continue.”