Migrants get a welcome from 54pc in region

New arrivals ‘have a positive impact’

PEOPLE IN Yorkshire are more likely to feel positive than negative about the impact of migration in Britain, a survey reveals.

Polling seen by The Yorkshire Post shows 49 per cent of the region’s population believe migration has had a positive impact, compared with 30 per cent who say the impact has been negative.

In the survey, commissioned by Migration Yorkshire, the findings were more mixed when people were asked their views on the impact on their local areas, with 34 per cent viewing it positively and 27 per cent as negative.

Of the more than 2,000 people polled, 54 per cent see their communities as welcoming to migrants, compared with 25 per cent who thought they were not.

And 38 per cent of respondents said migrants in their community were not integrated, compared with 41 per cent who believed they were well integrated

The opinion poll was conducted as part of the two-year Communities Up Close project, which aims to understand how different neighbourhoods in Yorkshire and the Humber have experienced and responded to recent migration.

It included in-depth research with local residents, migrants and professionals around the region, showing how views about migration are inextricably linked to other major changes like de-industrialisation and austerity.

Dave Brown, head of Migration Yorkshire, said: “This is the first time anyone has looked at overall views of people across our region on migration and integration and the results are fascinating.

“It confirms we see ourselves

Dave Brown, head of Migration Yorkshire, speaking yesterday. as a welcoming region for migrants and that there is strong support for us taking our fair share of refugees.

“However, it also shows that the national benefits of migration aren’t always felt locally and to achieve integrated and cohesive communities we really must understand and focus on each separate neighbourhood.”

As of last year, there were around 520,000 non-UK-born people in Yorkshire and the Humber, around a tenth of the population.

Bradford, Sheffield and Leeds had the biggest share of non-UKborn residents, who tend to come from South Asia or the “A8” European Union member states in central and eastern Europe.

The arrival of EU citizens from 2004, with migrants settling across the region in small towns as well as large cities, meant Yorkshire and the Humber’s non-UK-born population increased from around 260,000 to around 460,000 between 2001 and 2011.

The results of the polling are largely in line with a national survey carried out last year where 47 per cent answered positively and 29 per cent negatively when asked about the impact of migration.

ICM Unlimited interviewed a representative sample of 2,049 adults aged 18 and over who live in Yorkshire and the Humber via an online survey this month.

The results are weighted and are representative of all adults in the region.

There’s strong support for us taking our fair share of refugees.