Voters ‘open to immigration’

Fewer than a quarter of voters would back Theresa May’s plan to cut immigration below 100,000 if they thought it would mean public spending cuts, higher taxes or a later retirement age, according to a new poll.

The survey was commissioned by the Social Market Foundation think tank, which said its findings cast doubt on assumptions that voters demand “big cuts in net migration above all else” and that the Government must make this its priority in Brexit negotiations.

SMF director James Kirkup said the findings suggested that if politicians were “a bit braver and more candid” about the possible economic consequences of cuts in immigration, they might be able to win support for “sensible” policies which would leave Britain better off.

The poll by Opinium found that 40% of the 2,005 voters questioned thought it was more important to reduce immigration “significantly”, even if it meant the economy slowing and the deficit growing, compared to 37% who said that this was not a price worth paying.

But when asked about the specific ways an economic downturn might hit them, just 21% said that a higher state pension age was a price worth paying for lower immigration, 21% bigger cuts in public services and 24% higher taxes.

The SMF said the implications of the findings were “profound”, as most politicians took voters’ hostility to immigration as a “simple unchangeable fact” and shaped their policies accordingly, even though the “overwhelming” weight of evidence suggested that opening the labour market to people from other countries is good for the economy.

The Conservative ambition to reduce immigration to the tens of thousands was repeated in their manifesto for the June 8 General Election, despite the party failing to meet it in the seven years since it was first set out by David Cameron.

Mrs May said she would “work towards” achieving the target by 2022, though Brexit Secretary David Davis acknowledged the Conservatives could not promise to do so.

Mr Kirkup said: “Privately, many senior politicians – including members of Theresa May’s Cabinet – accept the evidence that restrictive immigration policies could do real economic harm to British households. But they don’t say so publicly, because they think voters are implacably opposed to immigration.

“In fact, voters are open to a sensible debate about immigration.

“If politicians are a bit braver and more candid about the economic costs of big immigration cuts, the balance of opinion will tip in favour of sensible policies that keep the UK economy op