Immigration is Now The Top Political Concern for British Voters, Crime Worry Soars

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Oliver JJ Lane

Polling taken the week following a horrendous mass stabbing of children triggering anti-mass migration protests and riots shows immigration has leapfrogged other concerns to become the top political priority of Britons.

Immigration is now the top issue facing the country, polling by YouGov conducted on Monday and Tuesday this week states. When asked to pick three policy areas from a list respondents believe are “the most important issues facing the country at this time”, a staggering 51 per cent of respondents chose ‘immigration & asylum’ as one of their selections.

Immigration as a concern has soared ten points in just two weeks, having come in third place at 41 per cent in the list of 14 policy areas in mid-July, leapfrogging ‘the economy’ which now sits in second place at 44 per cent, having lost nine points.

Also fast moving is ‘crime’, which soared from 20 per cent last month to 39 per cent now, the steepest change of any concern, and now ranking as the third most-selected issue facing the country in the poll of adults in Great Britain.

The shifts in public opinion came in a week where both immigration and crime are very much part of the discourse. On Monday last week, a class of young children was attacked by a knifeman, with 13 stabbed. Three young children died. It was later revealed the suspect, who has now been charged, is a Rwandan-heritage teenager but very little other detail has been made known, including whether the alleged killer was already on a security services watch list or not.

That attack has been followed by a week of protests, demonstrations, riots, and confrontations between ethnic groups with incidents reported across the country.

It has previously been suggested that in the mind of the British voter, immigration and crime are linked. As reported in May, polling found 56 per cent of Britons responding agreed that “migration usually leads to more crime”. Just three per cent said migration brings down crime, while 28 per cent said they think it makes no difference.

Concern about border control is rising across Europe, not just in Britain. As previously reported, a massive global survey found “many European countries have seen a sharp rise in the share of people who say that ‘reducing immigration’ should be a top government priority”. This is on track to be the second highest priority for Europeans by next year, having already overtaken ‘fighting climate change’ as a policy area of concern this year.

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