Surveys show that the British are more against immigrants coming into their country than people in the rest of Europe and those in the United States and Canada.
In the surveys, conducted in the US, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Britain, a higher proportion of the British say that immigrants take away jobs from the natives; governments are mismanaging immigration; and that immigrants have no right to legal benefits. Only the Dutch and Germans are more likely to believe that immigrants increase the crime rate.
All this is despite the fact that Britain has a smaller proportion of immigrants than all the countries in the survey except France and Italy.
Why does Britain top the list? Well, current immigration rates into Britain are probably at their highest levels since the Huguenots arrived here in the 17th Century. And British newspapers are more widely read than most other countries, and they are newspapers which can have a tendency to complain about "Johnny Foreigner" whenever possible.
This sceptical isle
Dec 3rd 2009
From The Economist print edition
Britons are less keen on immigration than most in continental Europe or North America
CLICK TO ENLARGE
“THE old, honest English stock” is being diluted by asylum seekers of a “different and base species”. So complained Francis Atterbury, the Bishop of Rochester, in a 1714 moan about the Palatine refugees from the Rhineland. Immigrants have always and everywhere had a rough time. But a poll published on December 3rd suggested that today’s Britons are particularly hostile. Of six European countries plus America and Canada, Britain emerged as by far the least happy about immigration.
Britons felt most strongly that there were too many immigrants in their country, and disapproved most categorically of their government’s management of inflows. Worries focused on jobs and resources: Britons were the most likely to say that immigrants were taking jobs and the least likely to say they should have access to the same state benefits as natives. Social issues were less sensitive: immigrants were not blamed for crime as they were in Germany, say, and Britons were not especially likely to complain about cultural clashes. And, interestingly for the MPs currently lobbying for the adoption of a “guest-worker” scheme, a (slim) majority said they preferred permanent migration to the temporary sort.
The overall message, though, was an overwhelming thumbs-down. Why? Britain does not have an unusually high proportion of migrants among its population (higher than France and Italy, but lower than the other five countries in the sample). But it has recently fielded a big, visible rush from eastern Europe, which by some measures is its biggest influx since the Huguenots in the 17th century.
London, 1738. On narrow Hog Lane, frivolous, pinch-faced Huguenots emerge from a French chapel adjacent to a gathering of lustful Londoners spilling food and making noise. Only the decaying body of a cat across a sewage ditch separates the two groups.
"FOG IN THE CHANNEL; CONTINENT CUT OFF"
A headline in The Times in the 1980s, demonstrating the insularity of the British
The unpopular 12-year-old government may be another reason for the bolshie sentiment, as may be a recent slight increase in the willingness of the Tories to talk about this sensitive subject. Britons expressed enthusiasm for stronger border-policing to reduce illegal migration, a longstanding Tory theme (and a nonsense, as most illegals are overstayers rather than sneakers-in).
Newspapers also play a part. British ones are shriller and more widely read than in most countries. And national papers are more popular than regional ones, meaning that even people in areas with low immigration read about it every day. Roughly 10% of people in Britain are immigrants; the average Briton believed the figure to be 27%.
economist.org
In the surveys, conducted in the US, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Britain, a higher proportion of the British say that immigrants take away jobs from the natives; governments are mismanaging immigration; and that immigrants have no right to legal benefits. Only the Dutch and Germans are more likely to believe that immigrants increase the crime rate.
All this is despite the fact that Britain has a smaller proportion of immigrants than all the countries in the survey except France and Italy.
Why does Britain top the list? Well, current immigration rates into Britain are probably at their highest levels since the Huguenots arrived here in the 17th Century. And British newspapers are more widely read than most other countries, and they are newspapers which can have a tendency to complain about "Johnny Foreigner" whenever possible.
This sceptical isle
Dec 3rd 2009
From The Economist print edition
Britons are less keen on immigration than most in continental Europe or North America
CLICK TO ENLARGE
“THE old, honest English stock” is being diluted by asylum seekers of a “different and base species”. So complained Francis Atterbury, the Bishop of Rochester, in a 1714 moan about the Palatine refugees from the Rhineland. Immigrants have always and everywhere had a rough time. But a poll published on December 3rd suggested that today’s Britons are particularly hostile. Of six European countries plus America and Canada, Britain emerged as by far the least happy about immigration.
Britons felt most strongly that there were too many immigrants in their country, and disapproved most categorically of their government’s management of inflows. Worries focused on jobs and resources: Britons were the most likely to say that immigrants were taking jobs and the least likely to say they should have access to the same state benefits as natives. Social issues were less sensitive: immigrants were not blamed for crime as they were in Germany, say, and Britons were not especially likely to complain about cultural clashes. And, interestingly for the MPs currently lobbying for the adoption of a “guest-worker” scheme, a (slim) majority said they preferred permanent migration to the temporary sort.
The overall message, though, was an overwhelming thumbs-down. Why? Britain does not have an unusually high proportion of migrants among its population (higher than France and Italy, but lower than the other five countries in the sample). But it has recently fielded a big, visible rush from eastern Europe, which by some measures is its biggest influx since the Huguenots in the 17th century.
London, 1738. On narrow Hog Lane, frivolous, pinch-faced Huguenots emerge from a French chapel adjacent to a gathering of lustful Londoners spilling food and making noise. Only the decaying body of a cat across a sewage ditch separates the two groups.
"FOG IN THE CHANNEL; CONTINENT CUT OFF"
A headline in The Times in the 1980s, demonstrating the insularity of the British
The unpopular 12-year-old government may be another reason for the bolshie sentiment, as may be a recent slight increase in the willingness of the Tories to talk about this sensitive subject. Britons expressed enthusiasm for stronger border-policing to reduce illegal migration, a longstanding Tory theme (and a nonsense, as most illegals are overstayers rather than sneakers-in).
Newspapers also play a part. British ones are shriller and more widely read than in most countries. And national papers are more popular than regional ones, meaning that even people in areas with low immigration read about it every day. Roughly 10% of people in Britain are immigrants; the average Briton believed the figure to be 27%.
economist.org
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