Voters now as worried about immigration as the economy, says poll
IMMIGRATION is now the most important issue of concern to the British people, a poll has revealed.
It came joint top with the economy in an Ipsos MORI poll of the public’s priorities for the Government.
Strikingly, in a single year, the proportion identifying immigration in their top priorities to Ipsos MORI has nearly doubled.
In the same period, the number citing the economy as their main concern fell by 11 percentage points, as unemployment and growth have picked up.
The poll is a double-edged sword for David Cameron. He will be boosted by confirmation that worries over the economy are declining. At the same time, it will embolden both his backbench opponents, who want much tougher action to reduce migrant numbers, and Ukip.
Earlier this week the Prime Minister was accused of complacency over immigration after he said the numbers arriving from Romania and Bulgaria were ‘reasonable’.
It later became clear that Mr Cameron has no idea how many are coming in to the country because official figures will not be available until May.
The poll found that 41 per cent of those questioned raised immigration or race relations in their first two answers when asked: ‘What do you see as the most important issues facing Britain today?’ The economy was raised by the same proportion.
In the past 12 months, the number citing the economy has fallen by 11 points, from 52 per cent. Immigration, by contrast, has risen from 22 per cent to 41 per cent.
It is the first time since 2008 that immigration has come out on top, Ipsos MORI said. The economy has remained at the top since then. Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the MigrationWatch think-tank, said: ‘This is a most remarkable outcome. At last people feel free to give their true opinion about the impact of mass immigration on this country.’
The poll emerged as Mr Cameron was engaged in last-minute negotiations with rebel Conservative MPs demanding changes to the Immigration Bill when it returns to the House of Commons tomorrow.
Backbencher Nigel Mills is calling for rules restricting access to British jobs for workers from Romania and Bulgaria, which expired in January, to be restored.
Last night, government whips were said to be backing a compromise set of amendments proposed by another Tory backbencher,
‘Running rings round border controls’
Stephen Phillips – which would give a vague duty to the Home Secretary to assess whether EU immigration is excessive in future.
A further rebel amendment, proposed by Tory MP Dominic Raab, would beef up laws on booting out foreign criminals. Last night, a Home Office memo blew a hole in the Government’s case for blocking his amendment.
Ministers have been resisting the amendment, which would make it all but impossible for overseas convicts to claim they have a right to a ‘family life’ in the UK. They have insisted that the rules would flout the Euro- pean Convention on Human Rights because they do not include sufficient safeguards.
Home Secretary Theresa May warned Downing Street last March that it could lead to a huge number of appeals being logged at the European Court of Human Rights.
She predicted the court could respond by issuing ‘a Rule 39 injunction’, which would halt up to 4,000 deportations a year for several years while all the appeals were heard.
But a memo prepared by the Home Office’s own officials, seen by the Mail, states that this is not the case. Officials working on the Bill state: ‘We do not expect interim measures under Rule 39 to be issued routinely, if at all.’
In the wake of her warning, Mr Raab failed last year in his attempt to get the amendment passed. Last night, he said: ‘I welcome the fact that the earlier legal objections have been overcome. I hope this clears the way for the Government to accept this practical, common sense amendment, which will stop killers, rapists and drug dealers from running rings around our border controls.’
But the amendments face being defeated by being ‘talked out’. There are only around four hours set aside tomorrow to debate the Bill, including a raft of Home Office amendments.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We are already passing legislation in the Bill to ensure judges don’t regard the right to a family life as an absolute and unqualified one.
‘Those who commit serious crimes have no place in Britain and we are determined to see more of them kicked out of the country.’