THE POLITICS OF IMMIGRATION

.....immigration.
For most UKIP voters, Nigel Farage was saying what they wanted to hear
on immigration, pretty much how they wanted to hear it. Yet that was also
what prevented UKIP broadening its appeal beyond its core vote.
The Survation findings for British Future show that, by the end
of the campaign, most voters believed that UKIP had talked too much,
too loudly about immigration and that the party should have paid more
attention to other issues. Crucially for UKIP, that majority includes large
numbers of voters who are sceptical about the European Union, and about
the scale and pace of immigration, not just those who take a strongly
different view to Nigel Farage.
Figure 4: Did UKIP talk too much, too little or about the right amount about
the following topics during the recent general election campaign?
Immigration Economy NHS Europe
Too much 51 9 9 39
About right 39 41 44 46
Too little 10 50 47 15
Just under four in ten said that UKIP had talked too much about
Europe, but 46% felt they had said about the right amount about this, and
15% had wanted to hear more. Voters did feel that UKIP should have had
more to say about the economy and the health service.
Figure 5: Did UKIP talk too much about immigration? (by party)
Talked too
much about
immigration
Overall UKIP voters
Conservative Labour Lib Dem
Voters voters voters
51 8 48 63 72
About right 39 80 43 26 26
Talked too little 10 12 8 11 2
about immigration
Dangerous and divisive? Or a valuable voice, up to a
point
There has been much discussion of UKIP’s “marmite” appeal. It is
certainly true that the party polarises opinions – striking a strong chord
with its core “left behind” voters by offering a world-view that is strongly
opposed by the most cosmopolitan voters.
That world-view certainly fails to appeal to ethnic minority voters
too. As we explore in Chapter 8, “The new floating voters”, 55% of ethnic
minority respondents feel the party can fairly be described as ‘racist’. That
this is a majority view among ethnic minority Britons shows that the party
has a lot more work to do to ensure that its commitment to being open to
Britons of all ethnicities and faith is understood and trusted.
Overall, respondents to the Survation survey do say it is unfair to
call the party ‘racist’, by a narrow margin of 43% to 40%. Serious UKIP
voices will find that rather too narrow a margin of acquittal, and will want
to redouble their efforts to show the party is an inclusive one. Half of that
40% say they would reduce immigration levels, so the finding cannot be
dismissed as the marginal view of a Guardian-reading cosmopolitan fringe
19 British Future / The Politics of Immigration