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Exodus

We don’t want people coming into Britain—so why are we so desperate to leave?

by Peter Kellner / July 19, 2012 / Leave a comment
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Published in August 2012 issue of Prospect Magazine

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Do we want a drawbridge-up or drawbridge-down society? Polls show repeatedly that most of us dislike immigrants, the European Union and globalisation. This suggests that we want to keep the rest of the world at bay. However, YouGov’s latest poll for Prospect suggests that most of us would like the drawbridge down—but to let us out, not others in.

Already, more than one adult in three has significant overseas links. Seven per cent were born abroad; 18 per cent currently have close relatives abroad and 23 per cent have lived abroad at some point for six months or longer. When we take account of the overlap between these groups, we find that 36 per cent have at least one of these overseas links.

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Comments

  1. Jack B.
    June 28, 2015 at 16:32
    Before trying to determine the meaning of Brits' interest in moving abroad it's necessary to look at antecedents: what do they know about other countries? How much is their interest in, say, America affected by its movies and rock songs? How much of their real and synthetic knowledge comes from social media ? As for having one's young study abroad, would that be of interest to the millions for whom passing A level is less of a dream than reaching O? When it comes to making policy decisions based on this survey, both sides of the aisle would want to know how many wish to migrate because of low wages and too few jobs. The survey, then, should be seen as the first step to gaining useful information that can help guide the country.

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About this author

Peter Kellner
Peter Kellner is former President of YouGov and a political analyst and commentator
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