A poll on attitudes to Britain’s recent anti-immigration protests has found that four in 10 people believe that violence is sometimes the only way to get the attention of politicians when it comes to the issue of refugees.
The field survey of 1,278 respondents by WeThink Polling was conducted on August 7 and 8 in the wake of demonstrations which erupted across the United Kingdom after three young girls were allegedly stabbed to death by a Rwandan teenager in Southport last month.
In addition to the 39% who agreed that “when it comes to the refugee problem, violence in sometimes the only means that citizens have to get the attention of British politicians”, 36% said that “xenophobic acts of violence are defensible if they result in fewer refugees being settled in your town”.
34% agreed that “attacks against refugee homes are sometimes necessary to make it clear to politicians that we have a refugee problem”, and 32% said “hostility against refugees is sometimes justified, even if it ends up in violence”.
When asked how they would personally characterise the recent events, 35% said as a mix of riots and protests, 15% co-ordinated far-right attacks, 10% primarily riots, 9% domestic terrorism, 8% mostly protests/demonstrations, 6% protests, and 15% other or don’t know.
“Next, we sought to understand how the riots have made the public feel,” the pollsters said in a post on X.
“The top three results show that 43% are concerned, 40% are disgusted and 37% of respondents are angry.”
Asked about the main causes, 54% of those polled said “immigration”, followed by 52% who cited racism, and 40% who said “violence for its own sake”.
Of those who supported the goals/motivations behind the protests, 80% said immigration was one of the top three causes, 54% said racism, and 54% said political discontent.
Among those opposed, 81% said racism was one of the top three causes, 69% said violence for its own sake, and 63% said immigration.
On Monday the highest number of detected illegal immigrants since open borders advocate Keir Starmer became Prime Minister crossed the English Channel – a total of 703 on 11 boats.
18,343 have arrived so far this year, up 13% on the same time in 2023, with many housed in special “asylum seeker hotels”, some of which were surrounded by protesters after the Southport stabbing.
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick said Monday’s arrivals alone would cost the British taxpayer an estimated £281 million, since studies have shown that illegal immigrants are a net drain of £400,000 over their lifetime.
A total of 1.2 million long-term immigrants arrived in the UK in 2023, with those from non-EU countries making up 85%.
A recent report from think tank the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) found that record-high immigration has failed to boost the British economy while exacerbating the housing crisis and placing increasing pressure on public service.
The report also highlighted the dramatic increase in the non-White British population, the extremely uneven geographic distribution of recent arrivals, the vast difference in contributions made by migrants from different regions, and two decades of broken promises to reduce immigration by Conservative and Labour governments alike.
