We don’t want people coming into Britain—so why are we so desperate to leave?
by Peter Kellner / July 19, 2012 / Leave a commentPublished 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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Jack B.