It’s an interesting survey to read of you are a BNP strategist, as it points towards there best chance of success being a stealth approach. I onre respect this could be to have supporters stand as independents playing down things like repatriation, in favour of “Local Houses for Local People”.

The second is to play down the Racist element in there offical line and target policies which achieve their aims by other means, a sort of “intelegent design” approach where you get your message across in a more reasoned and popular way, but have the same basic effect.

The big test for the BNP will be how they adapt to the main stream, and how others react to them. Much as I hate what they stand for they may well get more seats and escape attack as the other parties will be too busy comming to terms with the results next week and either Crowing about them or licking their wounds.

Peter.

As I’ve remarked elsewhere, I’d be fascinated to see the results from a third sample in which the word “immigrants” was replaced with “immigrants from Australia and New Zealand”, and the word “asylum-seekers” with “white asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe”, in an attempt to tease out how much the anti-immigration language is really being used to mask racism.

The immigration issue would get a different answer if postulated as

‘Would you like to have bigger pension and retire at 60.? This will require people to enter the country to fulfil job vacancies as we have an aging population and are not even having enough children to sustain the current population.’

It’s the simplicity inherent in polling -which matches the tabloid simplicity- which is limiting.

Yes, because it would be a leading question

It would need to be worded something like - “Some people have argued that immigration is necessary to fund future pension requirements and allow people to continue to retire at 60. Do you agree or disagree?”

You can do far more complex polling studies than those the papers commission, but the question is always whether by giving extra information to respondents you are making them unrepresentative. If most people haven’t thought about immigration in this context, then the answer isn’t representative of their present opinion. It is indictative of how the public would react if immigration was successfully presented to them in those terms, but that’s slightly different.

There are a couple of questions actually dealing with immigration in relation to funding future pensions on a YouGov survey on pensions from last year (the relevent questions are on page 5)
http://www.yougov.com/archives/pdf/TEL050101054_1.pdf.

I second Chris Lightfoot’ s point about immigration and race.We really are overdue a thorough examination of British attitudes on race etc.Locally in recent weeks I’ve been served in Tesco and the local chippie, had my streets cleaned and seen a group move into a neighboring house —-all Poles.Doesn’t bother me in the slightest (we owe ‘em!) but what,I wonder is the general attitude to this new immigration and how does it compare to other groups?
If a slightly increased, localised B.N.P.advance has any useful result ,once the initial hysteria has died down (which would produce unreliable poll results I suspect), a major examination of this issue could be it.
On present form however I suspect Labour will try to shift the attention to the B.N.P.’s supposed threat and away from its own and more particularly Blair’s, failings.All other parties and disaffected Labour elements have an interest in not letting that happen.

Yes I know that Anthony, the point I make is that we who read-and comment- here are inclined to respond to the over simplification of a poll result and an oversimplified spin. The problem is that it gets reported out there in the tabloids and taken as gospel.

Has anyone done a similar survey with Labour/ Lib Dems / UKIP to see if association with those parties renders a policy less popular? I understand it does with the Tories.

[…] This psychological barrier of ‘us and them’ needs to be broken down, for whites and non-whites. A recent poll found that 32% of people agreed with or were unsure whether non-white people were inherently ‘less British’. […]

[…] A recent poll found that 32% of Britons agreed with, or were at least unsure about, the idea that non-white people were inherently “less British”. Integration is a two-way street ma’ brothas. […]

Quote: “A majority also opposed the government encouraging immigrants to leave Britain (52% opposed, rising to 58% opposition when associated with the BNP).”

Were the question re-worded to say: “Do you agree that the government should encourage voluntary resettlement of immigrants (through financial aide) to their country of origin”

… I’m sure a majority would be in favor.

This survey proves that the ‘Nazi’ stigma on the BNP, delivered by the mainstream media, has been very effective in keeping the BNP at bay.

[…] Our government bleats on about home-grown terrorism while knowingly helping others use cluster bombs and bunker-busters. It cannot accuse ethnic minorities of not integrating without accepting and taking serious steps to deal with the glass-ceiling (at senior level) they face in business, media, politics and civil service, or that nearly a third still have a problem accepting them as Britons. […]

I think that we should stop asylum seekers coming into OUR country…they come here and abuse us and our sytem then we have to pay to keep them in OUR prisons…why don’t we just send them back to the country they come from….

i totally agree with angel24, asylum seekers crime has risen, they go to prison, we pay for it, they come out, and are housed etc, it is a total abuse of OUR country, and they are just laughing at us in the process.Unless we stop it now, it will just escalate as it already seems to be doing, simple solution, send them home, and send a message to other asylum seekers, our country, our rules, stay out!

It is intersting how people will refuse to side with someone they dislike even though they like what they are saying. Perhaps it is the method by which these policies would be put forward that troubles people?

I’ve even thought of voting for the BNP, not because I think they have a cat’s chance in hell of getting in (I wouldn’t vote for them if I thought that) but because, as we’ve seen with people who have voted for the Green Party in the past, influence can be brought to bear as those parties who do have power feel the need to borrow the clothes of the party that is, albeit in a small way, rising in popularity. And, yes, I want to see far fewer immigrants, and to see no more special concessions (sharia Premium Bonds? what next?) for religious sects (the colour of their skin doesn’t interest me one jot). People miss the point when they simply lambaste the BNP. That’s like blaming the messenger for the message. The message is coming from voters who vote for the BNP. While we’re in a democratic country, I don’t see anything wrong with that, even if I detest what a party stands for.

[…] But let’s try to be as objective as possible in deciding whether or not it seems right or wrong for members of any political party to be barred from employment in the police service (or indeed anywhere in the public sector). […]

I think the results of this survey are interesting in showing that the majority of people belive in the policies of the BNP but as soon has they know this they suddenly change there views. It seems that because the BNP has a reputation of being racist people are to scared to support them even though they agree with there policies. I think the whole racism row in this country has got people to scared to air their views. What is racist about saying enough is enough britain can not take anymore asylam seekers. The country resouces are being drained by the ever growing population. How is it fair that british people have payed tax,national insurance and council tax for years to improve our country to allow us to have the benefits of free health care and council houses when people are coming here who use the resources but have never contrubuted. And even worse still they have priority over the british people when it comes to using them ie.council houses. Being a dental nurse i have seen the NHS decline rapidly over the last few years and i belive it will be non existent in the next few years. it does not take a expert to work out that the amount of people paying national insurance cannot cover the amount of people who use the free healthcare system. working in a dental practice any asylam seekers that are treated do not pay for treatment that have a form that given to them to intitle them to free treatment. I strongly belive charity begins at home and that britain should look after there own before helping others. There are enough people in britain already that need to be given council houses so why are they being given to asylem seekers first. where i live there is a family that is having to live apart because they are still waiting for a council house after being on the housing list for three years. then just a few doors away from them a family of asylam seekers have moved in who have been on the list for three months !. I only hope that people start to stand up to what the belive in before the decline of this country gets any worse and something is done before its too late. I think every country should play there there part in helping asylam seekers i think Britain has taken more then its fair share.

In Scotland the debate is on other aspects of asylum. The First Minister has said that “Scotland is not full up” and EU students will get free university education. The “Asylum seekers” issue in Scotland is “Dawn Raids”, forced removal of Scottish children who speak English with an accent that would cause difficulty in Inverness being deported.

According to the Observer’s Scottish correspondent, Scottish public opinion has for some time been firmly against removing these families and local people have tried to disrupt removals.

There is good evidence to believe that Jack McConnell thought he had reached an understanding with the immigration service and was shocked to discover that Dawn Raids continued.

He lost the election because on this and other matters, despite acknowledging that he should stand up to Westminster more often in future, the electorate voted for a First Minister whom they thought would articulate Scottish values more robustly on eg Trident, nuclear power and Dawn Raids, all matters which public opinion is distinctively different in Scotland.

The SP minister who will have ultimate responsibility for preventing child abuse by the UK government is Fiona Hyslop.

I have met Mrs Hyslop, and she frightens me.

If I were to pick a member of the Scottish Parliament to take on a UK ministry on what Scottish public opinion sees as a moral issue, she would be the first choice by wide margin.

I do not think she will need to do anything much. The nuclear power industry gave up without a fight. I don’t think we will hear about any more forced removals of “legacy” cases with children at Scottish Scools.

Yougov sometimes asks questions about the degree of satisfaction with immigration policy. You don’t need to be a racist to be dissatisfied. The presumption is often that the choice is between the government’s policy, and a harsher one, but there are other choices and nuances.

Scotland is different. Some say it should be a different country. Immigration and other reserved issues need to be handled with greater sensitivity than in the past. If they are not, the outcome is obvious.

Please correct the grammar and speling in my previous post.

I would like to know what area the poll was carried out,as it is clearly anti BNP as usual,ask the wright questions,such as, do you think repatriation is a good idear,

I’m afraid that in general the people of Britain are gradually being shamed into accepting immigration as an integral part of living in Britain.
Only 2 miles from where I live there are “no go” areas for white British people, areas where even the police advise non-Asian people to walk or drive for fear of attack. In these same areas the local council and council sponsored housing associations are building houses with up to 6 bedrooms due to the size of these families. Outside these same council houses are parked the Range Rovers, Bentley’s and Mercedes Benz the apparently unemployed occupants drive around in.

Am I resentful? You bet your life I am! Is it simply coincidental that areas such as Oldham with its high proportion of immigrant population where I live have some of the highest council tax bills in the country? When I first moved to this area I scoffed at the plethora of stories related to me by Oldhamers of the positive discrimination culture of the council, the police, the benefits agencies and even the inland revenue, now I can add to these stories many more of my own.

Where the likes of Napoleon, The Kaiser and Hitler failed to defeat this country our namby pamby immigration policies have succeeded. Speaking of Hitler, perhaps someone could explain to me, why, when the area I work in has an Asian population of around 50%, on Remembrance Day there is not a single Asian to be seen at the cenotaph.

i’m a Labour voter and agree with most of their policies but immigration, I fear, will drive me from the Labour party and divide this country. The politcians simply have no idea of the harsh facts of life of living in a community that is having its very heart ripped out.