Recent polls on immigration

Updated 7 April, 2016

1. Concern about Immigration…

• 76% want immigration reduced, 4% wanted it increased. 14% want it unchanged.^[1]
• 50% chose immigration as the most important issue facing them and their family - higher than the economy (46%) and the Health Service (42%). Immigration has led or tied this poll for the past year.^[2]

2. Government Policy…

• 72% thought that the government was right to impose a numerical limit on immigration each year while only 19% disagreed with that policy.^[3]
• 3. The Preferred Level of Immigration…
• 52% said that the government should try to reduce immigration by a lot; 24% said by a little. 2% wanted it increased a lot, 2% by a little. 14% wanted it to remain the same.^[4]

4. Population and Overcrowding…

• 62% wanted to see the UK population decrease. 22% wanted it to stay the same. 11% wanted an increase.^[5]

5. Positive Aspects…

• 39% thought that immigrants put as much into the economy as they took out; the same proportion thought they took out more.^[6]

6. The Impact on Services…

• 81% of the public thought the government should limit benefits to migrants resident in the UK for less than two years.^[7]
• 66% think that the NHS and schools should only be available to migrants that work.^[8]

7. The Impact on Jobs…

• 67% thought that employers should give priority to British people when recruiting. 20% disagreed and 12% didn’t know.^[9]

8. Integration…

• 95% thought that it was either very important or fairly important that migrants had an ability to speak English to become ‘truly British’. ^[10]
• Asked about the most important requirements for living in Britain,60% said being able to speak English, while 43% said being willing to work hard and pay taxes, 36% said respect for the law, 28% said respecting British culture and customs, 15% said tolerance of others.^[11]

9. On the EU Referendum

• 49% of the public say that immigration will influence how they vote in the upcoming referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, making it the issue, by some distance, most likely to affect how people will vote ^[12].