Majority back tough restrictions on immigration
A LARGE majority of voters back Theresa May’s tough stance on reducing immigration, a survey has found.
There is even a majority of Remain backers among those wanting European Union immigration to be reduced after Brexit, it showed.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid has signalled a wish to soften Mrs May’s philosophy of creating a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants.
But a survey of 2,063 people for Channel 4 News suggested voters are still in favour of strong control although 51 per cent believe immigration has been mainly beneficial to the UK.
Half of those surveyed still support the “hostile environment” policy.
These included two-thirds of Leave voters and 39 per cent of Remain voters, as well as 68 per cent of Tory voters and 41 per cent of Labour supporters.
Seventy per cent of people want EU immigration to fall after Brexit, including 58 per cent of those who voted Remain in the 2016 referendum. Only 15 per cent oppose the Conservatives’ never-met target of net migration under 100,000 a year.
More than half, 55 per cent, of people want UK immigration policy to treat Commonwealth and EU applicants the same, though 22 per cent think EU workers should continue to be allowed in freely.
The findings for Deltapoll came yesterday on the anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush 70 years ago bringing the first large group of migrants from the Caribbean. Recent attempts to deport “Windrush generation” migrants after decades in the UK have caused outrage.
Business Secretary Greg Clark has called for measures to keep the supply of workers freely moving across borders to deliver services after Brexit.
He said ensuring minimal new barriers to cross border trade in services was as important as avoiding them in the trade of manufactured goods and he warned against focusing too exclusively on goods. “I completely understand when companies say that they rely on efficient mobility,” he said.