Do Scotland and England & Wales Have Different Views About Immigration?

Primary Author or Creator:
John Curtice
Additional Author(s) / Creators
Ian Montagu
Publisher:
What Scotland Thinks
Alternative Published Date
December 2018
Category:
Type of Resource:
Research Paper
Length (Pages, words, minutes etc...)
22pp
Fast Facts

The social and economic consequences of immigration are viewed similarly in England and Scotland. All party voters except SNP have a less favourable attitude toward immigration than their English counterparts. The same applies to Remain supporters. There is no systematic relationship between national identity and perceptions of immigration.

More details

Scotland may have voted differently from England & Wales in an EU referendum in which immigration was a key issue and it may have a devolved government that is much more positive about immigration than is the UK government in London. But that does not mean that the balance of public opinion about the consequences of immigration is markedly more positive than it is in England & Wales, or that the demographic differences that are in evidence south of the border are not just as apparent in Scotland too. Rather, what differs between Scotland and the rest of the UK is how attitudes towards migration are reflected in the ballot box. The SNP has gathered for itself an electorate that is relatively positive about immigration, an electorate whose views are then counterbalanced to some degree by a pattern of support for other parties in Scotland that is somewhat less positive towards migration than is found among those in England & Wales who back such parties. Support for Scottish independence is associated with a more positive outlook too, even though on its own a strong Scottish identity is not. Meanwhile, because it secured considerable support from (less pro-immigration) supporters of unionist parties, the Remain campaign in Scotland was more successful than its counterpart elsewhere in Britain at securing the backing of those north of the border who do have less positive views about immigration.

English