UK: Public dissatisfaction with government’s handling of immigration at highest level since Brexit 

According to the Immigration Attitudes Tracker by Ipsos and British Future, “public dissatisfaction with the Government’s handling of immigration is at its highest level” since before Brexit. Seven out of ten British citizens across the political spectrum are disappointed for varying reasons in the government’s failure to manage the constant flow of migrants into the country via the English Channel.

Brexit, which took place during the tenure of David Cameron, who regrets it (which is easy to say about anything after leaving office), was driven by dissatisfaction with the British government’s laxity on immigration policy. The longtime and persistent migrant invasion of the UK through the prime ministerial tenures of Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss (although hers was so brief as to be insignificant) and now Rishi Sunak has been compounded by repeated government broken promises to do something to stop it. Economic migrants — not refugees as defined by the Refugee Convention (by which a refugee is to stop in the first country of safety) — have swarmed into Britain in huge numbers, and nothing effective has been done to stop them.

When Sunak began his tenure as prime minister last October, he hailed Brexit and promised to promote responsible immigration based on a two-way street. Yet nothing has changed. If anything, it’s getting worse.

In July, a top former Conservative government minister — former Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis — asked British citizens to take illegal migrants into their homes. Never mind the Muslim rape gangs, the unwillingness of all too many migrants to assimilate, and also the increase in crime rates that countries including Sweden, Germany and France have experienced.

The migrant crisis continues to weaken Britain’s economy and threaten its national security, as its politicians continue to sidestep their responsibilities.

This situation is unsustainable, and British citizens know it. From COVID mismanagement to migrant overflows, they’re dissatisfied with the blatant disregard of their wishes and their needs that has been repeatedly shown by their political leaders.

“Dissatisfaction with Government’s handling of immigration at highest level since 2015,” British Future, September 12, 2023:

Public dissatisfaction with the Government’s handling of immigration is at its highest level since before the EU referendum, according to the latest findings from the Immigration Attitudes Tracker by Ipsos and British Future.

The new survey finds that two-thirds of the public (66%) are dissatisfied with the way the Government is dealing with immigration, the highest level since the first tracker survey in 2015. Just 12% say they are satisfied.

Only a fifth (22%) of Conservative supporters are satisfied with the Government on immigration while most Conservatives (56%) are dissatisfied – a quarter (26%) ‘very dissatisfied’. Almost three quarters (73%) of Labour supporters are dissatisfied with how the Government is dealing with immigration.

The top reason given for dissatisfaction with the Government is the failure to stop Channel crossings, but responses are divided by politics. For Labour supporters who are unhappy with the Government on immigration, ‘Creating a negative or fearful environment for migrants’ (46%) and ‘Not treating asylum-seekers well’ (45%) are equally important reasons for dissatisfaction as ‘Not doing enough to stop channel crossings’ (46%). Among Conservative supporters, however, 82% cite ‘Not doing enough to stop Channel crossings’ as a reason for their dissatisfaction, and only 9% ‘creating a negative or fearful environment for migrants’.

Such sharp division by politics is common across a range of questions.

At a time of high net migration, the new tracker survey finds that 48% of the public now supports reducing immigration (up from 42% in 2022), compared to 44% who would prefer numbers to stay the same or increase. Support for reducing immigration is still nearly 20 points lower than in 2015, the first year of the tracker, when 67% of the public backed reductions.

More people (43%) think that immigration has had a positive impact on Britain than the 37% who feel its impact has been negative, though negativity has increased by 8 points from 29% since 2022.

Responses differ significantly by politics. Two-thirds of Conservative supporters (67%) now favour reducing migration, compared to only 38% of Labour supporters who favour reductions. More than half (56%) of Labour supporters say immigration numbers should increase (28%) or stay the same (28%), compared to 30% of Conservatives who say numbers should either increase (16%) or stay the same (14%).