Andrew Levi Profile picture
Technology investor, former diplomat and corporate executive▫️“Top” New York Times▫️“Senior” BBC▫️“Valued” Financial Times▫️“Persona non grata” Vladimir Putin▫️

Nov 27, 2021, 8 tweets

“The British public demand a clamp-down on migration”

🌍The truth

🔵An overwhelming majority of the British public support people being able to take refuge here.

A 🧵/1.

“The British public demand a clamp-down on migration”

🌍The truth

🔵This century* there’s never been a British majority negative toward immigration. The current figure is 26%.

*Since the European Social Survey began in 2002. /2.

“The British public demand a clamp-down on migration”

🌍The truth

🔵In the last 30 years* there’s never been a British majority worried about immigration as a key issue. Except for one brief moment in the run-up to the 2016 EU referendum.

*Ipsos MORI chart starts in 1993. /3.

“The British public demand a clamp-down on migration”

🌍The truth

🔵British attitudes to immigration, over three decades, have broadly correlated to the size of the refugee population in the country. Except for a peak of negativity in the run up to the 2016 EU referendum. /4.

“The British public demand a clamp-down on migration”

🌍The truth

🔵British attitudes to immigration have broadly correlated to the rate of population growth/ net migration. Except for a peak of negativity in the run up to the 2016 EU referendum. /5.

“The British public demand a clamp-down on migration”

🌍The truth

🔴They don’t. /6. End

P.S. 1st tweet: 56% agree with: “Most foreigners who want to get into my country as a refugee really aren't refugees. They just want […] economic [benefits], or […] our welfare services”. They’re wrong, as Lord Kerr has pointed out👇

Why might they think it? So hard to say 🙃

P.P.S. 4th & 5th tweets: the “peak of negativity” mentioned is the “salience” of immigration, ie: the extent to which it is seen as a key issue.

As the European Social Survey chart shows, negative attitudes to immigration fell consistently from 2006.

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