Over half of those who voted for Brexit and a third of voters overall would be in favour of switching their party allegiance to a new political force that made cutting migration a top priority, a new poll has found.
According to a representative survey of 1,208 Britons conducted by PeoplePolling for GB News, 57 per cent of people who voted to Leave the European Union in 2016 would support an alternative to the Conservatives (Tories) in order to see migration finally be brought down.
When looking at the electorate as a whole, the poll found that regardless of Brexit support, some 33 per cent would back a new anti-mass migration party.
Commenting on the results, Matthew Goodwin of the University of Kent said: “These numbers underline the very high levels of public concern over the historically unprecedented level of immigration into the country. Crucially, for Rishi Sunak, the vast majority of his voters appear utterly convinced that the numbers are too high, pointing to another problem in a long line of problems for the incumbent prime minister.
On the desire of many for a new party, he said: “With rumours of an imminent return for Nigel Farage and the Reform party turning up on the volume on immigration, our numbers suggest that around one-third of Britain would be open to a new party that specifically campaigns to lower the overall level of immigration into Britain, rising to nearly 60 per cent of the country’s Leavers. There is, in short, more potential space for a Reform-type party than their current 5 per cent in the polls implies”.
Reform UK, formerly the Brexit Party, is currently led by Richard Tice, with founder Nigel Farage having semi-retired to an essentially ceremonial role as honorary president.
NEW. One third of all voters & half of Brexiteers open to a new party which campaigns to lower immigration
“There is a need for a new party to campaign to lower immigration"
Agree 33%
Neither 13%
Disagree 32%Leavers
Agree 51%
Neither 14%
Disagree 18%Peoplepolling Nov 30
— Matt Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) December 2, 2022
It remains to be seen Nigel Farage will make a return to frontline politics and abandon his post as prime-time anchor for the GB News network, but other polls have seen Reform closing in on ten per cent of the potential vote share in a general election, with two polls over the past month putting the populist party’s support at nine per cent.
Currently, Reform is the only political party making migration a central issue. In a policy paper, the the party said that “a responsible government has a duty to protect our borders.”
While the party would still welcome high-skilled labour, such as doctors, engineers, software developers, and scientists, it said that it would do so in a “tightly controlled” manner to only meet the needs of the country.
“We want these valuable people to come and work in the UK legally, and play by the rules, respecting our values. This must not be an excuse, however, for cheaper labour that reduces wages in the UK, nor must it be an excuse for not training our own wonderful young people,” the party said.
In terms of illegal immigration — 44,000 irregular migrants have reached Britain by boat alone this year — Reform said that they would declare the practice a national security threat, leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the jurisdiction of the associated European Court of Human Rights, and open up offshore asylum processing centres along Australian lines.
The party said that it would also seek to “create a new Department of Immigration staffed with people who believe in the task at hand, to protect our borders,” adding that the Home Office, which is currently tasked with dealing with protecting the country’s borders, is “simply not fit for purpose”.
"We’re all human beings, we’re all mammals, we’re all rocks, plants, rivers. Bloody borders are just such a pain in the bloody ass," said the chief of Britain's Border Force – which may explain why illegal immigration has been getting worse for years https://t.co/hDfmFPliJ3
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 14, 2021
Meanwhile, the ruling Conservative (Tory) Party, which has overseen record immigration — both legal and illegal — has cratered in polling over the past year. After sweeping to a historic victory in 2019, the party now can only boast 21 per cent support among the public, according to the PeoplesPolling survey. This is compared to 46 per cent for the leftist Labour Party.
This is likely in part as a result of the Tories’ failures to fulfil their promises to reduce immigration in the last four elections, with pollsters finding that 54 per cent of voters believe that immigration is “too high” compared to just four per cent who feel is is “too low”.
Among Brexit voters, specifically, 81 per cent said that they felt immigration was too high.
Matthew Goodwin said: “Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party have stalled in the polls and, if anything, now appear to be going backwards. While Team Sunak have now launched a more concerted effort to turn the ship around, our numbers suggest they still have a very long way to climb indeed. Were these numbers replicated at a general election they would almost certainly deliver an election wipe-out”.
Brexit leader Nigel Farage, for his part, said of the polling results: “The country is moving away from the two main parties again.”
Majority of Britons Say Immigration Too High, Just Four Per Cent Say Immigration Too Low https://t.co/rJe8IiZ99u
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 2, 2022
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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