Nearly half of the people living in Britain feel like “strangers” in their country, appearing to confirm the recent anti-mass migration rhetoric Labour Party Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been forced into by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
The liberal political and media establishment went into full-blown meltdown last week after Prime Minister Starmer took a rhetorical axe to the sacred cow of open borders ideology in declaring that not only does mass migration not produce economic benefits for the working class of Britain, but also that it risked turning the country into an “island of strangers” as community cohesion collapses.
This week, a study from the More in Common polling firm seemingly vindicated this position. A survey of 13,000 people, conducted before the PM’s speech, found that 44 per cent sometimes felt like strangers in their own country.
The pollsters did not specifically ask how much immigration contributed to this feeling. However, some questions suggest that it was a factor. Indeed, 73 per cent of respondents said that more needs to be done to integrate people of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds into British society, and 77 per cent said that this needs to be done by everyone.
There were clear distinctions among voting groups on the question, with 73 per cent of supporters of Nigel Farage’s anti-mass migration Reform UK party reporting feeling like strangers in Britain, compared to 48 per cent of Conservatives, and 34 per cent of Labour voters.
While 44 per cent of white respondents reported feeling estranged in the UK, Asian people, typically meaning people of South Asian descent, such as countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, reported the highest level of any group at 47 per cent.
The pollsters said that last year’s anti-mass migration riots following the Southport stabbing at a Taylor Swift dance party by second-generation Rwandan migrant Axel Rudakubana were a contributing factor, with respondents claiming an uptick in “racist” incidents in their wake.
However, despite the growing tension, Britain appears to remain a tolerant country towards minorities, with seven in ten saying that ethnic backgrounds should not be considered a barrier to being accepted as a British person.
According to More in Common director Luke Tryl, it would be a “mistake to say that immigration and lack of integration are the sole causes of our fragmenting social fabric,” saying that other factors besides immigration were also found.
Those polled also listed factors such as the cost of living, the proliferation of social media, a decline of shared spaces such as town centres, and the lasting impacts of the coronavirus, such as the rise of work from home culture.
There was also a feeling that British society is geared toward the benefit of the wealthy, and unsurprisingly, those living in poorer areas felt more disconnected than those in more affluent places in the country, which have so far avoided much of the major impacts of mass migration.
Commenting on the findings, Mr Tryl said: “Above all else, this research shows an urgent need to think again about how we rebuild a united and cohesive society.
“The polling puts into sharp relief something that will come as no surprise to many Britons – a growing sense that we’ve turned inward, away from each other, becoming more distant and less connected.
“The Prime Minister’s warning that we risk becoming an ‘island of strangers’ resonates with millions who say they feel disconnected from those around them.”
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