Survey Finds Strong Support for Proposal to Allow 40,000 Asylum Seekers Annually
Half of the British public supports the creation of visas that would enable asylum seekers to safely travel to the UK instead of using small boats, according to new polling data.
The new government has not yet proposed any safe and legal routes for refugees, focusing instead on establishing the UK Border Security Command to combat people-smuggling. However, polling conducted by Focaldata for the British Future thinktank revealed that 50% of respondents, and nearly two-thirds of Labour voters, favor a scheme allowing humanitarian visas for up to 40,000 individuals each year with strong asylum claims or ties to the UK.
Only 16% of participants disapproved of the proposed initiative, which also indicated support for the government’s decision to abolish the Rwanda policy and process the asylum claims of thousands of migrants arriving via small boats. Recently, four individuals died when their dinghy sank in the English Channel, marking another tragedy in a record year that has seen over 14,000 people reach British shores.
Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, cautioned that there are “limits to what better policing of the Channel can achieve on its own.” He emphasized that a humanitarian visa would facilitate a new agreement with France while providing a safe route for asylum claims in the UK, thereby undermining the business model of people-smugglers.
“This evidence demonstrates that Sir Keir Starmer can gain public support for a fairer and more effective approach,” he stated.
The survey, which included 2,500 adults, found that half of respondents approved of the Labour government’s choice to discontinue the Rwanda scheme and allocate funds toward the new Border Security Command, while only 20% opposed it.
Support was evident for all key migration policies outlined in Labour’s general election manifesto, with two-thirds of people backing plans to process all asylum applications from individuals who have reached the UK, and 65% supporting the establishment of a new returns unit. Additionally, more than half of respondents approved of Labour’s intentions to end the use of hotels for asylum accommodation and its commitment to “act upstream to address humanitarian crises that drive people to flee their homes.”
