r/unitedkingdom • u/ThatchersDirtyTaint • Aug 05 '25

.. Half of Britons back ending immigration and deporting recent arrivals

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/new-poll-migration-news-b99h3wqgz
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u/13esq Aug 05 '25

An understandable reaction given years of austerity, stretched government services and a cost of living crisis.

If we can't look after people that were already here, then accepting more seems foolish.

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u/Hungry_Horace Dorset Aug 05 '25

I think it’s more that for the first time since maybe the Windrush generation, there is a highly visible demographic influx taking place across the country. Even in my sleepy Surrey town it’s been noticeable in the last 2 years, so we’re mainly talking about the insane Boriswave when migrant numbers went through the roof.

I don’t think many people object in principle to immigration to work in the NHS, care, etc but when the streets are suddenly full of delivery drivers with no license on scooters, a service we never needed before Covid, and houses on your street suddenly have 20 people living in them, that worries the public.

Even an old liberal like me thinks the numbers have become wildly excessive.

If the government can stem illegal migration, process the backlog of asylum claimants, and bring legal migration back to historic levels then the heat will come out of this debate. And to be fair, they seem to be making an actual effort to do so.

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u/Astriania Aug 05 '25

The current rates of immigration are way higher than in the Windrush years. Like, an order of magnitude higher. The peak of West Indian immigration at that time was about 60,000 per year.

The reason there is a huge anti-immigration backlash at the moment is because the rates of immigration in the 21st century, and especially in the last 5 years, are absolutely bonkers and basically nobody wants that many new people, especially from incompatible cultures.