London Diary: Brits more hawkish on immigration than even Trump loyalists

Brits like to believe that they’re more liberal, more pro-diversity, more tolerant of immigrants than their reactionary hang-’em-flog-’em American cousins. But apparently the reality is exactly the opposite.

According to a new study, it’s Britons who are far likelier than Americans to believe that illegal immigrants should be deported, and less convinced that diversity improves society. 

Researchers with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), Britain’s largest not-for-profit social research organisation, said they wanted to “better understand how public attitudes in the UK compare with those in the US, and the extent of polarisation in the two countries”.

More than 2,000 UK residents (aged 16 and above) were surveyed, and asked the same questions answered by 8,000 over-18s in America.

The results showed that 42 per cent of people in the UK thought there should be legal efforts to deport immigrants living here without permission, compared with 33 per cent in the US. And while 64 per cent Americans felt that diversity strengthened society, only 49 per cent Brits thought so.

Alex Scholes, a research director at NatCen, said that while Britain was more liberal on questions to do with family, sexuality and religion, attitudes to immigration and diversity showed the opposite pattern.

“People in the UK are less likely than those in the US to see diversity as a strength, or to think that openness to people from other countries is essential to who we are as a nation," he said.

Perhaps the most revealing part is that supporters of Britain’s far right Reform UK party — tipped to form the next government if elections were to be held tomorrow — are more likely than Donald Trump’s loyalists to favour deportation of illegal immigrants.

Welcome to the ‘new’ Britain.

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Racist dogwhistles

It has been a busy week for ideological dog whistlers. First, a Conservative party MP Robert Jenrick complained that in certain parts of north England that have a large South Asian population (such as Birmingham) it was hard to find a white face. The fact is — at 48.6 per cent of the city’s total population, whites remain the single largest ethnic group in Birmingham!

Barely had the furore over Jenrick’s remarks subsided than another right-wing MP Sarah Pochin (from the Reform UK party) had to apologise for claiming there were “too many black and Asian people” in advertisements.

“It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people... How many times do you look at a TV advert and think there’s not a single white person on it?” she said during a TV phone-in, provoking a strong backlash. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that such views would “tear our country apart”. Pochin’s own party leader Nigel Farage said he was “very unhappy” but didn’t believe she was “genuinely racist”.

‘Genuinely racist’? Are there also fake racists, Mr Farage?

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BBC ‘Trump-ed’

Tim Davie’s resignation as BBC director-general — amid accusations that the network aired a doctored clip of a speech made by US President Donald Trump — is a victory for Britain’s right-wing media and politicians allergic to its supposed liberal ‘bias’.

An episode of its investigative Panorama programme appeared to show Trump urging his supporters on 6 January 2021 to march with him on to Capitol Hill to “fight like hell”.  

In fact, he had said he would accompany them “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”.  The “fight like hell” comment came later in his speech. 

The right-wing Daily Telegraph accused the BBC of editing the clip in a misleading way to present Trump in a negative light. The issue was seized by other right-wing media outlets to undermine the 103-year-old broadcaster’s credibility. BBC News CEO Deborah Turness also resigned, while rejecting claims of institutional bias.

A deeply divided nation

Britain is more divided than ever. The majority of Brits say they do not feel proud of their country, with immigration being the most divisive issue.

A study by King’s College London (KCL) has revealed that people are uneasy about the pace of cultural change and feel increasingly nostalgic for the past. A whopping fifty per cent of the public said that culture in Britain was changing too fast because of too much immigration.

The study, part of a long-term research programme into ‘culture wars’, also found that divisions over climate, transgender rights and ‘woke-ism’ have worsened.

Some 84 per cent said the country felt divided — up from 79 per cent two years ago and 74 per cent five years ago.

Professor Bobby Duffy, director of the Policy Institute at KCL, said the study showed a “frightening increase” in the sense of “national division” and decline in the UK. “We’ve seen steep rises in the beliefs that the UK is divided, that ‘culture wars’ are real and that things were better in the past," he said.

And, finally, poor Rishi Sunak. As a backbencher MP, he is no longer taken seriously even by the BBC, that equal opportunities’ employer. The other day, as he rose to speak in the House of Commons, its Politics Live programme decided it was time to cut away. And the anchor declared: “That almost brings us to the end.”