Migration concerns have featured heavily in British politics and, in recent years, public attitudes towards immigration in the UK have become increasingly politicised. Since 2012, UK immigration policy has been characterised by a ‘hostile environment’ and attracted high-profile scrutiny with the Windrush scandal and treatment of refugees. Following the 2016 Brexit referendum, where immigration dominated the campaign, the UK took a major step, ending EU freedom of movement. However, the public has become increasingly receptive to immigration, particularly to address labour shortages in essential occupations.

Migration trends

For much of the 20th century, migration to and from the UK was roughly in balance. During the 1960s to the early 1990s the number of emigrants often exceeded immigrants. This pattern reversed in the mid-1990s, and for the last 25 years or so the UK has seen positive net immigration. Despite government rhetoric focused on reducing net migration, numbers hit an all time high in 2022, driven by increasing migration through study and work routes.

This data shows annual immigration, emigration and net migration figures. Source: Office of National Statistics (n.d.) 'Long Term International Migration, Provisional' The UK revised migration data from 2012 using the latest census data. This data now uses the government's new approach to producing migration estimates and cites December figures.

Salience

Since the 2016 referendum, the salience of immigration has declined sharply, with only a small minority considering it a key issue in 2022, the lowest level in two decades. This followed a peak around 2015–2016 just prior to the referendum. The salience of the issue has since risen, though immigration was still only a key concern for 21% of the population in June 2023.

This shows the percentage of people who answer 'immigration/race problems' to the question 'what do you see as the most/other important issues facing the country today?' Source: Ipsos MORI (n.d.) Issues Index. Data shown here refers to the percentage recorded in the month of June each year

Perceptions

Perceptions of immigration in the UK changed quite dramatically between 2012 and 2022, with the percentage reporting they feel immigrants' skills and labour is necessary to help Britain's economic recovery jumping from 25% to 53% in this period. Similarly, a large decline was reported in the share who perceive immigration to be a hindrance to economic recovery.

This shows the percentage of people that think that immigration will help economic recovery becuase immigrants' skills and labour are necessary, or hinder economic recovery by taking away jobs from people living in Britain, or those that feel immigration will make no difference. Source: British Future (2022) 'Shifting Views. Tracking attitudes to immigration in 2022'

Attitudes

Despite negative political narratives and historically negative public attitudes, over the past two decades the British have become increasingly positive about the impact of immigration and are amongst the most positive in Europe, reaching 68% in 2022. Negative attitudes have also dropped following the 2016 referendum, suggesting that electoral campaigning and messaging can have significant short-term impacts.

This shows how people have answered the question 'Do immigrants make the UK a worse or a better place to live.' Those scoring 0-4 are classified as holding 'negative' views, those scoring 5 as 'indecisive' and those scoring 6-10 as holding 'positive' views. Source: European Social Survey (n.d.) 'UK.' Electronic Dataset Survey postponed in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic.