93% of Immigrants Are Proud To Live In Britain, Nearly 9 out of 10 Respect Our Political System
8:57 am - June 16th 2015
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This came to my inbox last night, and I think the findings are worth sharing in full. Important to note, this was commissioned by a centre-right group, not a leftwing group.
Survation, on behalf of Bright Blue the independent think tank & pressure group for liberal conservatism, conducted an in-depth study of ethnic minority voter’s attitudes to immigration to inform their new report: A balanced centre-right agenda on immigration: Understanding how ethnic minorities think about immigration.
The report has six main findings:
· Ethnic minorities, like the wider population, are more concerned with having a well-managed immigration system and admitting immigrants who will contribute to the UK than lowering the overall number of immigrants
40% of ethnic minorities think that an ideal immigration system is one that is well managed and keeps out illegal immigrants. 25% of ethnic minorities believe an ideal immigration system is one that includes only those who contribute. Only 10% of ethnic minorities think that an ideal immigration system is one with fewer immigrants or no new immigrants (7%).
· The most important policy relating to immigration for ethnic minorities, like the wider population, is restricting migrants’ access to benefits
The policy which ethnic minorities would most like to see introduced to improve the immigration system is increasing the time before new immigrants can claim benefits (43%). The second most popular policy is increasing border policing to cut down on illegal immigration (36%). These two policies are more popular than tightening the immigration cap on non-EU migrants (22%) or withdrawing from EU free movement of workers rules (16%).
· Ethnic minorities are more welcoming of different types of immigrants than the wider population
93% of ethnic minorities do not want a reduction in the number of international students coming to the UK. 92% do not want to see fewer professional workers coming to the UK and 84% do not want fewer skilled manual workers coming to the UK. Across all types of immigrants, ethnic minorities are more likely to say that their numbers should not be reduced than the wider population.
· Ethnic minorities are more positive about the economic and cultural impact of immigration than the wider population
72% of ethnic minorities agree that immigration has provided skills for our economy compared to 42% of the wider population. 65% agree that it has enriched British culture compared to 34% of the wider population. 52% agree that it has helped support our NHS compared to 40% of the wider population.
Ethnic minorities are also more likely to believe that immigrants are integrating. 73% of ethnic minorities think that most immigrants prefer to be in work than on benefits, compared to 46% of the wider population. 69% think that most immigrants contribute tax, compared to 40% of the wider population. 47% think that most immigrants speak fluent English, compared to 26% of the wider population.
· Immigrants themselves are positive about Britain and participate in local activities
An overwhelming majority of immigrants, 93%, are proud (either very proud or somewhat proud) to live in Britain. 87% of immigrants feel respect for the British political system. Moreover, in terms of social mixing, most immigrants participate in a range of local activities. 50% of immigrants go to the pub with friends or colleagues and 47% participate in local community organisations.
· Ethnic minority views of immigration represent a political opportunity for the centre-right
Changing the party’s immigration policy is one of the top changes (24%) which would encourage ethnic minority individuals not currently seriously considering voting for the Conservative Party to consider it, behind only changing NHS policy and changing economic policy. There is an opportunity for the centre-right, and the Conservative Party in particular, to develop a policy agenda on immigration that strengthens its appeal to ethnic minority voters. Rather than a narrow focus on caps and clampdown, the Conservative Party should have a balanced agenda on immigration. This should include the championing of the significant benefits from immigration, as well as practical policies to address the challenges, and ensuring the system prioritises immigrants who contribute and places competent management of the system at the forefront of debate.
——
ENDS
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Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
· Other posts by Sunny Hundal
Story Filed Under: Blog ,Race relations
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Reader comments
50% of immigrants go to the pub with friends or colleagues.
Not the Islamic ones presumably…. .
I`m not sure if this is as interesting as you seem to think ( I picked it up in the NS at the time ).The problem with the Conservative Party aping Blairite aggressive settlement is that it will lose the massive advantage it enjoys over Labour, the anti-English Party.
Do you want a Party that loses 50 seats just to pick up Brighton ?
Not worth it.
that leaves 7% who hate us,go off to fight for nazi,fascist isis,stick there 2 fingers up to are laws and are constantly trying to undermine are democratic values,who are these people,islamists and the followers of this violent psychotic strain of islam living amongst us in are peacefull diverse communitys which they want to destroy.
50% of immigrants go to the pub with friends or colleagues.
Make up your mind Sunny. Do you hate this country, the one I understand you were born in, or don’t you? Your writings are those of an opportunist and ponce. The latter word means someone who lives off immoral earnings. I think you fit the description.
Very interesting. I wonder what you would make of another survey by Survation carried out for Sky News this April. The headline results were:
# Nearly one in five (16%) British Muslims believe British values are not compatible with Islam.
(And, half (52%) of British people believe Islam is not compatible with British values. Nearly six in 10 (57%) believe British Muslims are not doing enough to integrate into British society.)
# Four in 10 (39%) British Muslims believe the police and MI5 contribute to the radicalisation of young Muslims.
# One in five (20%) have some sympathy with young Muslims who leave the UK to join fighters in Syria.
Now, of course, “Muslims” doesn’t equate to ethnic minorities. But all the same ….
A survey of recent surveys on Islam and Muslims can be found here: http://islamsurveyed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/survey-of-surveys-concerning-islam.html
Also, the results don’t “tally” with a survey by Essex University “Britishness and Identity Assimilation among the UK’s Minority and Majority ethnic groups” which found nearly half (44%) of British ethnic minorities identify as strongly with their ethnic identity as they do with being British. That is, nearly half, can be said to have in some degree a dual identity.
Of the remaining half, 22% are “separated” (they exclusively maintain their minority culture), and 21% are “marginalised” (they have lost their minority culture but taken nothing from the majority culture).
This used a sample of 4000 ethnic minority households. A summary can be found here: http://islamsurveyed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/the-success-or-otherwise-of.html
Stewart,
that leaves 7% who hate us,go off to fight for nazi,fascist isis,stick there 2 fingers up to are laws and are constantly trying to undermine are democratic values,who are these people,islamists and the followers of this violent psychotic strain of islam living amongst us in are peacefull diverse communitys which they want to destroy.
No it doesn’t. You’d have to be mad to think that.
There’s something odd about this piece of research – it seems too sweet. And 93% of anything is really remarkable. (Usually only foreign dictators get such ratings – at election time…)
And 83% have respect for our political system – where the current government was elected by 21% of the voter population??
Odd, very odd.
Interesting. It would be interesting also to ask other questions about how they feel about particular neighbourhoods and types of schools. Some immigrant families and even a British person like Diane Abbott, would prefer their children not to go to a black or maEaling. BME school.
There is also a lot of movement out of the inner cities into the suburbs and smaller towns. You could ask people who wanted to get away from areas of high diversity why that was.
And what then of the people they leave behind. Is it acceptable to say that some areas become overwhelmed with poverty and social problems in the way that is most obvious when it happens in run down parts of American cities?
Immigration has changed the culture of inner city areas in our larger cities. A lot of people are hard working but there has also been a new kind of crudeness come about which is noticeable even from the new way of speaking English and (perhaps) the crass insensitivity that was shown the other day when a mother and daughter killed themselves under the wheels of a train in Ealing. The people at the station had to make an announcement asking people to stop taking pictures of the scene on their phones. Whatever the racial background of the people who were doing that was, I guessed that it was the common multicultural youth culture – and lack of respect for other people brought about by the popularity of street culture, that was why people were doing that.
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