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UK citizens’ personal, lived experience of immigration as a local problem is limited — but the perception that it is a major national issue is much higher, according to research by pollsters.
YouGov polling has found that only 26 per cent of people think immigration/asylum is one of the top three issues locally, while 52 per cent say it is one of the top three national issues.
That discrepancy suggests that public concern is being driven by media and political messaging, not by people’s own communities or experiences.
As a result, charities are saying concern over immigration and asylum is a “manufactured panic” — a media- and politics-fuelled perception rather than a ground-level reality.
And it seems these fears – stoked by politicians and their friends in the mainstream media – have changed attitudes about national identity against cultural diversity to a degree that now means we are more opposed to these things than Americans under Donald Trump – because we have been told to be.
The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) has found that, when asked questions about diversity, national identity, ethnic change and the like, British respondents — especially those on the right — gave more “nativist answers than Americans.
Examples include:
- 70 per cent of UK right-wingers saying it is bad if white people decline as a share of the population (v 43 per cent of Trump voters).
- 81 per cent of Conservatives/Reform voters saying the UK risks “losing its identity” by being too open to outsiders (v 65 per cent of Trump voters).
So: many British people now hold strong views about immigration and identity, regardless of whether it touches their daily lives – because they have been told to.
The way public opinion is being manipulated over immigration today follows the exact same pattern I described eight years ago when writing about disability hate.
Then, the Department for Work and Pensions and its media allies stoked resentment against sick and disabled people, branding them as “scroungers” and “workshy” to justify the demolition of the welfare state.
Now, politicians and their client media are using the same rhetorical machinery to turn public attention against migrants and asylum seekers.
In both cases, the process is simple and deliberate: a minister makes a claim – “there’s a growing fear that the UK is being overrun by immigrants” – and the press repeats it.
News programmes and newspapers amplify the story until the public begins to believe there really is such a fear. What begins as an elite talking point becomes a national obsession. Social psychologists call this “agenda-setting” and “framing”; I called it “nudging”. Either way, it is manipulation.
When the media make immigration sound like the country’s biggest crisis, people begin to treat it as one – even when it is not affecting their communities at all.
The new YouGov polling shows that only a quarter of respondents consider immigration a local problem, but twice as many think it is a major national issue. That discrepancy does not come from experience; it comes from exposure.
The same headlines that once convinced the public that disabled people were “cheats” are now telling them migrants are an “invasion”.
The method is identical: find a vulnerable group, frame it as a threat to “hard-working taxpayers”, repeat it until the public believes it, and then claim to be “responding to public demand” by introducing ever harsher policies.
It worked against the disabled, and it is working again now – against refugees and migrants who have done nothing wrong beyond seeking safety or opportunity.
The motive is also the same: distraction.
The welfare scapegoating of the 2010s masked the damage caused by austerity.
The immigration hysteria of the 2020s masks the failure to fix the cost-of-living crisis, rebuild public services, or reverse the economic harm of Brexit.
Each time, the government escapes accountability by turning neighbour against neighbour.
We should have learned the lesson by now.
When ministers and their media echo chambers tell us to hate someone, it is usually to stop us noticing what they are doing to everyone else.
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Media and political messaging has manufactured panic in the UK over immigration
Share this post:
UK citizens’ personal, lived experience of immigration as a local problem is limited — but the perception that it is a major national issue is much higher, according to research by pollsters.
YouGov polling has found that only 26 per cent of people think immigration/asylum is one of the top three issues locally, while 52 per cent say it is one of the top three national issues.
That discrepancy suggests that public concern is being driven by media and political messaging, not by people’s own communities or experiences.
As a result, charities are saying concern over immigration and asylum is a “manufactured panic” — a media- and politics-fuelled perception rather than a ground-level reality.
And it seems these fears – stoked by politicians and their friends in the mainstream media – have changed attitudes about national identity against cultural diversity to a degree that now means we are more opposed to these things than Americans under Donald Trump – because we have been told to be.
The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) has found that, when asked questions about diversity, national identity, ethnic change and the like, British respondents — especially those on the right — gave more “nativist answers than Americans.
Examples include:
So: many British people now hold strong views about immigration and identity, regardless of whether it touches their daily lives – because they have been told to.
The way public opinion is being manipulated over immigration today follows the exact same pattern I described eight years ago when writing about disability hate.
Then, the Department for Work and Pensions and its media allies stoked resentment against sick and disabled people, branding them as “scroungers” and “workshy” to justify the demolition of the welfare state.
Now, politicians and their client media are using the same rhetorical machinery to turn public attention against migrants and asylum seekers.
In both cases, the process is simple and deliberate: a minister makes a claim – “there’s a growing fear that the UK is being overrun by immigrants” – and the press repeats it.
News programmes and newspapers amplify the story until the public begins to believe there really is such a fear. What begins as an elite talking point becomes a national obsession. Social psychologists call this “agenda-setting” and “framing”; I called it “nudging”. Either way, it is manipulation.
When the media make immigration sound like the country’s biggest crisis, people begin to treat it as one – even when it is not affecting their communities at all.
The new YouGov polling shows that only a quarter of respondents consider immigration a local problem, but twice as many think it is a major national issue. That discrepancy does not come from experience; it comes from exposure.
The same headlines that once convinced the public that disabled people were “cheats” are now telling them migrants are an “invasion”.
The method is identical: find a vulnerable group, frame it as a threat to “hard-working taxpayers”, repeat it until the public believes it, and then claim to be “responding to public demand” by introducing ever harsher policies.
It worked against the disabled, and it is working again now – against refugees and migrants who have done nothing wrong beyond seeking safety or opportunity.
The motive is also the same: distraction.
The welfare scapegoating of the 2010s masked the damage caused by austerity.
The immigration hysteria of the 2020s masks the failure to fix the cost-of-living crisis, rebuild public services, or reverse the economic harm of Brexit.
Each time, the government escapes accountability by turning neighbour against neighbour.
We should have learned the lesson by now.
When ministers and their media echo chambers tell us to hate someone, it is usually to stop us noticing what they are doing to everyone else.
Support Vox Political!
With social media algorithms acting as gatekeepers – allowing users to read only what their owners want them to, sites like Vox Political need the support of our readers like never before.
You can help by making a donation:
https://Ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
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