Shock poll shows rising tide of right-wing nationalism (UK)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/02/27/shock-poll-shows-rising-tide-of-right-wing-nationalism-115875-22951794/



Almost half the country would back a new right-wing party that vowed to crack down on immigration and Islamic extremists, a shock poll reveals today. The revelations will spark fresh fears of racial tension in Britain amid a new wave of support for extreme right-wing parties like the British National Party and the English Defence League.

Findings of the survey, the largest of its kind and involving 5,054 people, are in a major report called Fear and Hope – the New Politics of Identity, which examines views on race, ­immigration and multi-culturalism. Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband and campaigning left-wing MP Jon Cruddas will officially unveil the report, produced for the ­Searchlight Education Trust, tomorrow.

They will also launch Searchlight’s Together project to tackle extremism among white and Islamic ­communities with the slogan: “A plague on both their houses”. In one of the most revealing ­questions, pollsters Populus asked people if they would back a party that “wants to defend the English, create an English parliament, control immigration and challenge Islamic extremism”.

Searchlight director Nick Lowles said: “The harsh truth is we are in danger of losing touch with the public on race, immigration and multi-cultural­ism.”
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Far-right are wrong choice

http://www.mirror.co.uk/opinion/voiceofthemirror/2011/02/27/far-right-are-wrong-choice-115875-22953560/

The survey into attitudes on immigration which the Sunday Mirror reports today makes shocking reading.

In this tolerant country, almost half the population would support a new right-wing party that vowed to crack down on immigration and Islamic extremism. Almost two in three of those questioned thought immigration had been a bad thing for Britain and one in three wanted to see it stopped.

As views against immigration tend to strengthen in tough financial times, the opposition to it and Islam are likely to increase. This presents a huge problem for the main political parties, who already struggle against the British National Party and the English Defence League.

The challenge for them is to understand the feelings of so many Britons while resisting the rise of far-right parties. They have to work out how to act on the fears of British people without adopting the policies and language of the extremists.

This isn't new. Enoch Powell was whipping up anti-immigrant and frankly racist sentiment in Britain over 40 years ago. Polls about three years ago showed that 50% of Brits supported the 'voluntary' repatriation of immigrants, and 60% said that we had too many immigrants. And this was before the economic crisis.

There are, I think, two main causes of such sentiments.

One is economic, and as such likely to get worse. All of the three main parties have moved to the economic right over the years, as both result and cause of a decline in the influence of the unions, and an increase in the role of the banking and financial industries. The current government is frighteningly`right-wing on economic issues, with an obsession with cuts. Economic desperation, and a sense of being unrepresented, can lead people into the arms of RW 'populist' parties that promise easy solutions.

The second is a long-term tendency of the tabloid press to whip up xenophobic sentiments, and to scapegoat immigrants (as well as those who don't fit 1950s social norms, and most of all at the moment, benefit claimants) as the source of all the country's evils.

of immigrants..

They constantly promote anti-immigration fears like this everyday...

Here's a link to the original source, which is more reliable.

http://www.fearandhope.org.uk/executive-summary/