For 25 years, Migration Watch UK has made the case that net migration to this country has reached levels the public never asked for and the country cannot sustain. We have published the research, engaged the politicians, and put the evidence in front of anyone willing to look. And for much of that time, the response from the political class has been to ignore it, dismiss it, or reach for the nearest euphemism.
JL Partners, an independent polling firm, surveyed 1,520 adults on 17 November 2025. The sample was nationally representative by age, gender, region, education, ethnicity, and past vote. We asked them about net migration levels, the impact of migration on eight areas of public life, and their views on the long-term demographic trajectory of the United Kingdom. What came back was one of the clearest statements of public opinion on this issue we have ever seen.
On net migration, respondents were not asked their opinion in the abstract, but told the official ONS figure: 2,925,000 people arrived in net terms between 2019 and 2024. They were then asked whether that level was too high, about right, or too low. 61 per cent% said too high. 38 per cent%, the single largest response category, chose far too high. 8 per cent% said too low. This is not a razor-thin majority on a charged question. It is a settled, clear, cross-demographic view. Majorities in every region of Great Britain. 57 per cent% of Labour voters. Graduates and non-graduates alike, differing only in intensity. There is no corner of this country where a majority of people think the last five years of migration were broadly fine.
We also asked respondents to rate migration’s impact on eight policy areas: housing availability, housing affordability, the NHS, the school system, crime and personal safety, national culture, public transport, and the high street. Not one produced a net positive verdict. The strongest negative results were on housing availability, where 57 per cent% said migration had reduced availability of homes, and crime and personal safety, where 53 per cent% said the impact had been negative. The NHS produced the poll’s most polarised result: 22 per cent% saw the contribution of migrant workers and rated the impact positively, but 50 per cent% judged the overall impact negative. People are weighing demand as well as supply. More residents means longer waiting lists, fuller GP surgeries, and A&E departments under strain. The public understands this even when the politicians prefer not to say it.
The crossbreaks tell a consistent story. Older respondents are more negative than younger ones across every single question. London is the outlier, more divided and less strongly negative than the rest of the country: but , though even there, majorities judged housing availability and crime negatively. Outside London, every English region, Wales, and Scotland returned net negative assessments across the board. The picture is of a country whose concerns are deep, widespread, and not confined to any one group or place.
The finding that deserves the most careful attention concerns demographic change. Respondents were told that people identifying as White British, White English, White Welsh, or White Scottish are projected to fall below 50 per cent% of the UK population by the early 2060s. They were asked how they viewed that prospect. 49 per cent% said negatively. 33 per cent% chose very negative. That figure, one in three adults, is the highest intensity response recorded anywhere in the entire poll. It exceeds the equivalent figure for housing availability at 25 per cent% and crime at 24 per cent%. The public does not hold this view mildly. Those who hold it, hold it with a strength of feeling that outstrips almost every other concern in the survey.
What this polling tells us is that on every dimension we tested, the British public agrees with the position Migration Watch UK has held and argued for a quarter of a century. Net migration has been too high. It is overwhelming damaging housing, public services, and the fabric of communities across the country. And a very large share of the country is deeply troubled by the demographic direction of travel.
We will not stop making that case. We will take these findings to politicians, to the media, and to anyone with the power to act. But none of this is possible without your support. If you believe this work matters, please consider making a donation. Every contribution allows us to keep the research going, keep the pressure on, and keep fighting for a migration policy that the British public actually wants.
Read the full report: ‘Public Attitudes Toward Migration: A National Polling Analysis’
