While almost half of the public in the UK before Brexit believed that migrants and immigration were the biggest problem facing the country, 46 percent of the public had a positive view of immigration and migrants in 2022, while 29 percent had a negative view, despite the record increase in irregular migration.
UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE), a think tank that conducts research on the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU), published “Immigration after Brexit: Where are we going?” report.
According to the report, the public’s perception that the government has lost control of its borders began with an increase in the number of Ukrainian and Hong Kong migrants and students, as well as irregular migrants entering the country by boat across the English Channel.
But migration to the country began in 2004 when some central and eastern European countries joined the EU. The Brexit campaigners’ argument for leaving the EU was to stop this migration and take control of the borders.
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In the UK, where citizens of EU member states have to abide by free movement rules, Brexiteers argued that the only way to stop immigration was to leave the EU.
While Brexiteers also argued that it would be fairer to establish a structure in which immigrants would be selected according to their skills, the type of visa that EU citizens can get according to their skills was announced after Brexit.
While it is estimated that 3.4 million EU citizens live in the country, 6 million people applied for this visa type. Visa was granted to 90 percent of the applicants, mostly Romanian, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian citizens.
Non-EU migration expected to boost production
After Brexit, new point-based visa types for skilled migrants and those working in sectors in need were also announced. For graduates of the world’s leading universities, the “High Potential Individuals Visa” was announced without the condition of finding a job.
However, low immigration from EU countries in 2022 revealed a shortage of skilled workers in many sectors. This year was also the UK’s highest year for immigration from outside the EU.
While Ukrainian and Hong Kong immigrants were cited as the reason for this, the number of student visas increased from about 200,000 in 2019 before the pandemic to 600,000 in 2022, and the number of work visas increased from 150,000 to 400,000.
According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, which makes forecasts on public finances under the Treasury Ministry, decreasing immigration was expected to have a negative impact on the country’s growth, but production is expected to increase in the next 5 years with rising non-EU immigration.
Despite increased immigration, wages and salary increases remained below the national average.
The number of asylum applications accumulated 132 thousand
On the other hand, the UK accepted the largest number of asylum requests after the Second World War in the post-Brexit period.
The UK, which decided that only asylum requests of those who came to the country legally would be evaluated, accepted 437 thousand people as asylum seekers after Brexit, 85 percent of this number was Hong Kong and Ukrainians.
The UK also experienced an increase in irregular migration in 2022. In 2022, when the number of irregular migrants reaching European countries approached 1 million, the number of those who reached England by crossing the English Channel with boats exceeded 46 thousand.
The government, which announced that it will send irregular migrants entering the country to Rwanda and those whose asylum requests are accepted will not receive the rights of those who enter legally, aims to prevent illegal entries by crossing the English Channel by boats.
The government also aims to ease the pressure on the migration system. According to the report, the number of asylum requests that have not yet been processed on December 31, 2022 exceeds 132 thousand, the highest number in the last 20 years.
46 percent of the public is positive towards migration
In the report, which also includes data on the public’s view of immigration, the number of people who believe that the number of immigrants in the country has decreased from 70 to 50 percent in the last 7 years, while the number of those who believe that nothing has changed has increased from 20 to 28 percent, and the number of those who think that it has increased has increased from 10 to 22 percent.
In another survey dated 2022, 46 percent of the respondents stated that they were positive towards immigration, while 29 percent thought otherwise. Half of the respondents said that immigrants have a positive impact on the economy and culture, while 11 percent said that immigration is the biggest problem facing the country.
According to the Ipsos Issues Index, this number was 40 percent in 2015, about 60 percent in mid-2015 and about 50 percent in June 2016, the year of the Brexit referendum.
Respondents were overwhelmingly in favor of bringing in skilled workers and high-potential immigrants, and saw this as important for economic development.
