Britain’s voters would back a new Right-wing party

'Fear and Hope' shakes the confidence of those who believe that all is well in Britain’s multiracial society'.

A report to be launched today states that almost half of Britain’s voters would back a new Right-wing party promising to tackle immigration and Islamic extremism.

The Searchlight Educational Trust report, Fear and Hope: Politics of Identity polled more than 5,000 people and concluded ‘there is a deep resentment to immigration, as well as scepticism towards multiculturalism’.

Also that ‘There is a widespread fear of the ‘Other’, particularly Muslims, and there is an appetite for a new right-wing political party that has none of the fascist trappings of the British National Party or the violence of the English Defence League’.

The report identifies ‘a clear correlation between economic pessimism and negative views to immigration’ and says ‘the situation is likely to get worse over the next few years’.

‘There is a clear correlation between economic pessimism and negative attitudes towards immigration. The more pessimistic people are about their own economic situation and their prospects for the future the more hostile their attitudes are to new and old immigrants.’ The report states.

The Trust commissioned the polling organisation Populus to explore the issues of English identity, faith and race and found that ‘there is widespread unease across Britain over immigration.

The survey found that found that 48 per cent of people would consider supporting or would definitely vote for a new far-Right party - if it shunned ­violence and “fascist imagery”.

And that nearly two-thirds of white Britons thought immigration had on the whole been bad for Britain. Some 43 per cent of Asians and 17 per cent of black Britons also held that view.

 52 per cent of those surveyed were in the middle, broadly classed as “mainstream”. They included a significant proportion of people who were most likely to be working-class and less financially secure.

Nick Lowles is the Chief Executive of Searchlight and editor of Searchlight magazine states; “The report paints a disturbing picture of our attitudes towards each other and the unknown. It also graphically highlights the dangers that lie ahead if the issues highlighted in the research are not addressed.

“This is a challenge to the political parties to really understand what is happening in the body politic and then do something about it. Fear and Hope shakes the confidence of those who believe that all is well in Britain’s multiracial society”.

Winsome-Grace Cornish

Image from the Fear and Hope: Politics of Identity report.