Poll: Majority of ‘Red Wall’ Voters Oppose Boris Johnson’s Open Immigration Policies

Prime Minister Boris Johnson poses on the steps of Hillsborough Castle on his arrival in B
BRIAN LAWLESS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

A poll has found that a majority of ‘Red Wall’ voters — who shifted from Labour to support Prime Minister Boris Johnson in last year’s general election — are opposed to the Conservative-led government’s lax immigration policies.

Published by pressure group Migration Watch UK, a survey from Deltapoll found that 72 per cent of respondents want the government to introduce stricter controls on non-UK workers. This proportion jumps to 83 per cent when only polling those who voted for the Conservative Party in 2019.

Those polled rejected any idea to remove a cap for employers on the number of migrants they can bring to the UK each year, with 55 per cent opposing the plan and 68 per cent of 2019 Conservative voters.

The vast majority of voters polled, 78 per cent as a whole and 87 per cent of Conservatives, supported the idea that businesses should be mandated to advertise job openings in Britain before searching for overseas applicants.

In comments seen by Breitbart London, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, Alp Mehmet, said: “This poll is a wake-up call for the government. They cannot ignore such a clear rejection of key parts of their immigration plans by a majority of ‘Red Wall’ voters.

“They must now devise an immigration system that both delivers on their promises and takes full account of the high unemployment, post-COVID, world.”

The polling was carried out across 70 ‘Red Wall’ constituencies throughout the UK from North Wales to the North East of England during the first week of August.

The nominally Conservative government has said that by January 2021, it would lower the threshold for skills and salaries of migrants, meaning that even with the UK leaving the European Union, net migration may increase, despite previous promises from the Conservatives in the past to decrease migration.

When asked about this proposed measure, 48 per cent of Deltapol respondents were opposed to the move, compared to 23 per cent who supported and 22 per cent who had no opinion on the matter.

Opinion on Prime Minister Johnson’s ability to control migration has waned over the summer months, with record waves of illegal boat migrants making their way to Britain by crossing the English Channel from France, with over 5,600 illegals arriving since the start of the year.

Last week, another record was set, with 409 boat migrants reaching Britain in small rubber boats in just one day.

Much of the support given to the Conservative Party and Boris Johnson was on the belief that the party would finally deliver Brexit, and therefore reclaim the United Kingdom’s sovereignty over its borders and migration.

The government’s failures to shut down illegal migration has resulted in a loss of confidence in the prime minister, with a poll finding in June that 62 per cent of Britons believe Boris Johnson is “failing” on immigration.

Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka

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