26 February 2024
For a government that had argued that Brexit would deliver lower levels of immigration, there were two unwelcome bits of news in November. First, it emerged that net migration had reached a new record high annual total of 745,000. Second, the Supreme Court ruled that Rwanda is not a ‘safe country’ and thus an inappropriate […]
28 April 2023
The UK government has concerned itself with addressing what it terms ‘illegal’ migration, in particular those who cross the English Channel with the aim of claiming asylum in the UK. Last year, it introduced a policy of transferring asylum seekers to Rwanda for their claim to be settled there, though as yet that policy is […]
20 December 2022
Immigration was one of the central issues in the 2016 EU referendum campaign. One of the benefits it was argued would flow from Brexit was that the UK would be able to ‘take back control of its borders’. The apparent contrast between that claim and the substantial and increasing flow of people crossing the English […]
7 December 2021
Britain continues to be divided over the merits and consequences of Brexit according to a new poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies for UK in a Changing Europe released today. It suggests that in a referendum on whether Britain should join or stay out of the EU, 47% would vote to join and 53% to […]
21 October 2021
The latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) report, published today, has as one of its central themes the impact of Brexit. One chapter by Alex Scholes and myself at the impact that the delivery of Brexit at the end of January 2020 has had on people’s attitudes towards how they are governed. Meanwhile a second chapter, […]
28 June 2021
Following the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union and thus the Union’s freedom of movement provisions, EU citizens who were living in the UK before the end of last year and who wish to carry on living here have until this coming Wednesday to apply for a ‘settled status’ that will enable them to continue […]
22 June 2021
Five years ago this week, the UK voted by 52% to 48% to leave the European Union. After two general elections and an extended parliamentary stalemate, that decision was eventually implemented on January 31 2020, though it then took another eleven months before the UK left the EU single market and Customs Union. This is […]
1 January 2021
Britain has now left the EU single market and Customs Union. That means it is at liberty to exercise the ‘sovereignty’ that many advocates of leaving the EU were keen to reclaim. But how do voters want that ‘sovereignty’ to be exercised? What policies would they like to see enacted in place of the legacy […]
10 November 2020
Last year the headlines were dominated by Brexit. This year the issue has only sporadically made it onto the news agenda. This is despite the fact that an agreement has still not been reached between the UK and the EU about their future relationship – and the cliff edge that will come with the end […]
20 October 2020
As part of our Future of Britain deliberative poll on 3rd and 4th October 2020, we held an expert panel on each of the three topics under discussion over the weekend: Migration to the UK; Food Policy & Regulation and Consumer Regulation. Panellists responded to questions submitted by study participants following small group discussions. Their […]
