A couple of weeks ago, LDV asked our readers the question, What’s the liberal response to immigration?
It sparked a fascinating comments thread, and our poll attracted over 500 votes. Here’s what you told us:
LDV asked: What do you think should be the basis of the UK’s immigration policy?
You told us:
>> 23% (121) Open the borders, and impose no immigration restrictions
>> 43% (225) Have managed immigration, eg through a points system
>> 15% (79) Operate an annual cap on immigration, with work-permits strictly limited to 4-years
>> 18% (95) Close the borders, and accept no more immigrants
Total Votes: 520. Poll ran: 13th January – 5th February, 2009
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11 Comments
And we claim to be internationalist and liberal.
I wonder if these results will get picked up in the Daily Mail – I do hope so!
Ugh!
Console yourself Jock; those wanting to limit economic activity by restricting the free flow of labour can only be from the less Liberal ends of the continuum.
I’d like to see ConsHome run this poll, with the exact same options. Would be interesting to see if there’s any difference between the parties.
We need to be a bit wary of polls like this – AFAIK anyone wandering onto the site could have voted in it, thereby not necessarilly making it a valid view of LDV readers, let alone LDs.
It is an ‘open to the public poll’, not one closed to party members, so all it really tells us is the view of people who happen to come to the site, not that of the membership.
If it is so crucial to stop people coming in, then it must be vital to Block the migrant brain-drain! Bad news for Canada, Australia, USA, etc. They might have to start paying for Education and Training for their highly specialised work-forces, provided hitherto courtesy of dormitory countries like us. If we could provide a through-ticket for the likes of Boris the Bruiser, that would free up London to take forward its multi-ethnic community program unhindered by maverick fascists in City Hall, champagne socialists in Westminster and Tory front-bench Toffs in no-man’s land!
Don’t see the point of reopening the debate on the subject – but I wonder if anyone senior in the party might just ponder whether the response reflects a general view among members/supporters?
I certainly opted for controlled migration.
Beats me why we Liberals don’t just go the whole hog and have a points system for goods and services too.
There is a points system for goods and services. It’s called money.
Er, no, that would be a market based system.
A points based system would be things like import and export licenses, protectionist tariffs and so on.
If it’s any consolation, I note from the links that Stormfront picked this poll up. They were disgusted that nearly a quarter of us favoured completely open borders. We must be doing something right 🙂