Immigration News

A recent survey carried out by research agency YouGov has uncovered an overwhelming level of support from Liberal Democrat voters for tighter UK Immigration controls. The survey found that 4 out of 5 participants in the poll wholly advocated the Government’s proposals for stricter checking procedures on foreigners before granting them permission to join their UK spouse or relatives in the UK.

Out of 2,287 adults that took part in the survey, a staggering 81% of people who had voted for the Liberal Democrats at the last general election were found to be in favour of UK Family Visa applicants to be interviewed back in their homeland in order to ensure that their settlement application was based on legitimate circumstances.

Furthermore, 93% of Liberal Democrat supporters were in agreement over potential UK Immigrants having to understand ‘everyday’ English. This figure is compared to 87% of Labour voters addressing the same subject.

In terms of the minimum income for UK Immigrants who wished to bring partners with them to the UK, 75% of Liberal Democrat voters agreed that the income threshold should be raised from £5,500 per year to £18,000. In this respect Liberal Democrats voters are in the mid ranges compared to Labour and Conservative voters. 69% of Labour voters agreed with this approach with Conservative voters coming out on top at 91%.

The Chairman of Migration Watch UK, Sir Andrew Green, stated: “This is quite a remarkable outcome. It shows huge public support of the proposals that the Government has planned.”

What’s remarkable about the results is that the Coalition has put forward a number of proposals in a bid to decrease net migration figures to the ‘tens of thousands’ per year and many of these proposals have been met with firm opposition from senior Liberal Democrat MP’s. However, Liberal Democrat voters seem to highly favour many of the changes that the Government wishes to implement.