Election Year or Fear!

[Trickytreesreds]

Firstly…they’re not my claims and those figures are evidence (and sourced).
Secondly…where do you think the ‘think tank’ figures came from?
Thirdly…they’re from a relatively right wing source so why would they distort things in the way you imply?

Sorry to disappoint you and I know it isn’t what you wanted to hear or believe, but the findings of these particular surveys do suggest that, although the ‘small boats’ issue is important to a certain section of the population - over 65 year old Conservatives and Brexiteers - it is relatively insignificant to potential Labour and younger voters.

I repeat, these are not my figures or findings, but as well as being unpopular with those on the left (obviously) and the young…the issue of ‘small boats crossing the channel’ is significantly below issues like inflation/cost of living, the NHS and our nation’s ability to become more energy self sufficient via the adoption of alternative fuel sources, for the majority.

You keep riding along on your increasingly lame hobby horse if you like but these particular findings suggest you’re not on to an election winner.

of course, your think tank is correct. I'm amazed you have used a tory think tank, who quite evidently favour mass immigration for the over lords of cheap labour. You are deluded then chap, if you believe Immigration isn't a hot topic. What the Foook do you think the Brexit vote was driven by.
My figures are from the general population sir. They vote at elections, NOT THINK TANKS.

Believe what you want, but economy/health/immigration are the 3 hot potatos in the uk

[Geoff Parkstone]

By way of trying to achieve closure on this difference of view, I think TTR is correct in identifying economy/health/immigration are the three biggest issues at the next election.

Whether these represent any one individual's specific issues is a different matter. rA clearly doesn't think immigration is a key, TTR does. Based on the think-tank observations young labour voters align with rA, older conservative/brexiteer voters align with TTR. Is it ever thus.

No one is right or wrong. In any election different interest groups will back different policies. Non smokers will back increased tax on fags, smokers don't. Pacifists will not back increased defence spending; environmentalists have their priorities etc etc

Everyone has their own personal perspective on these issues. Thus all are important and potentially vote impacting. A real key issue would be one that made a "young labour" voter and an "old Tory" voter come together, or switch to a new stance. It's just like the majority of constituency outcomes. The pig in a blue scarf will win in Reigate, a pig in a red scarf will win in Hackney. Policies by and large don't matter in these "rotten boroughs".

Look at your marginals to see which issue matters, not across the country. If you want to see if boater immigration is a big issue, ask the people in Kent, Sus*** etc who are on the front line, not the electorate in say Liverpool or Melton Mowbray where the impact is less felt. It's easy to say "I don't care" if it doesn't impact your life

Closures of pits didn't effect me as an accountant in the south, but had devastating impacts on those (largely) northern communities involved.

Pretending that issues that clearly influence a lot of people simply don't exist, just because you cannot align with them is foolhardy. Leaving them to fester is even more so.

[Trickytreesreds]

Here's another topic that election time will throw up again, education fees.
We have universitys sucking in foreign students, who would never even qualify for University had they been born here
Meanwhile, UK born students continue to get strangled by more and more debt?
It's a vicious circle. Home born cannot afford it, so the Universitys take in sub standard students, of which 40% never go home.

One here must have set a new record though, how do you get £231k in student debt?

https://news.sky.com/story/truly-eye...ealed-13099826

Something needs to change, our brightest and best need more than this.

[ramAnag]

of course, your think tank is correct. I'm amazed you have used a tory think tank, who quite evidently favour mass immigration for the over lords of cheap labour. You are deluded then chap, if you believe Immigration isn't a hot topic. What the Foook do you think the Brexit vote was driven by.
My figures are from the general population sir. They vote at elections, NOT THINK TANKS.

Believe what you want, but economy/health/immigration are the 3 hot potatos in the uk

Tricky, you do make me laugh. Can’t win can I? By choosing to avoid GBNews - aka a PPB on behalf of the Right - I’m apparently ‘blinkered’, yet when I quote from a right wing think tank, guess what…that’s my fault too.

For the final time…it’s not ‘MY think tank’ and I’m not saying immigration won’t be an issue. What I am saying is that according to the findings of this particular ‘think tank’ - which did canvas opinions from the electorate - that your obsession with immigration via small boats crossing the channel is going to be fourth or fifth in the pecking order of major election issues.

So…one last go. The survey on which this report is based was called ‘The People’s Priorities’…there’s a clue there somewhere. When asked for a single priority the order was as follows. 1st Overcoming inflation 26% 2nd= NHS and Energy self sufficiency 15% 4th= Small boats and reducing taxes 12%.

When asked for their top three issues the results were; 1st= Inflation and the NHS with 48% 3rd. Energy self sufficiency 33%, 4th small boats 28% and 5th reducing taxes 26%.

Of course, for the reasons Swale pointed out earlier, such findings may well be flawed because we don’t know who was asked or how the questions were framed. All we know specifically is that, where immigration across the channel on small boats is concerned, this was particularly popular amongst older Conservative and Leave voters but did not resonate at all with younger or left leaning voters.

To close…for the umptee*th time, these are NOT MY findings. The fact that they are the findings of those on the political Right should, I would have thought, be a source of concern to you. Those you appear to support, not me, have your obsession far down the percentage pecking order in terms of voter interest with just 12% of voters regarding small boats crossing the channel as their number one priority. Doubtless this will lead to an abundance of fake photos of Muslims arriving on Margate beach or invading the Isle of Wight (remember the Brexit campaign?)…just don’t shoot the messenger!

[ramAnag]

By way of trying to achieve closure on this difference of view, I think TTR is correct in identifying economy/health/immigration are the three biggest issues at the next election.

Whether these represent any one individual's specific issues is a different matter. rA clearly doesn't think immigration is a key, TTR does. Based on the think-tank observations young labour voters align with rA, older conservative/brexiteer voters align with TTR. Is it ever thus.

No one is right or wrong. In any election different interest groups will back different policies. Non smokers will back increased tax on fags, smokers don't. Pacifists will not back increased defence spending; environmentalists have their priorities etc etc

Everyone has their own personal perspective on these issues. Thus all are important and potentially vote impacting. A real key issue would be one that made a "young labour" voter and an "old Tory" voter come together, or switch to a new stance. It's just like the majority of constituency outcomes. The pig in a blue scarf will win in Reigate, a pig in a red scarf will win in Hackney. Policies by and large don't matter in these "rotten boroughs".

Look at your marginals to see which issue matters, not across the country. If you want to see if boater immigration is a big issue, ask the people in Kent, Sus*** etc who are on the front line, not the electorate in say Liverpool or Melton Mowbray where the impact is less felt. It's easy to say "I don't care" if it doesn't impact your life

Closures of pits didn't effect me as an accountant in the south, but had devastating impacts on those (largely) northern communities involved.

Pretending that issues that clearly influence a lot of people simply don't exist, just because you cannot align with them is foolhardy. Leaving them to fester is even more so.

Not really about what I ‘think’, GP. It just seemed interesting and relevant that an essentially Right wing collection of statisticians had concluded that the ‘small boat’ issue isn’t as significant as some would like to make out.

I guess the rest of your post is really, quite correctly, drawing attention to the failings of our democracy and the polarised nature of our electorate which won’t change until we move away from an ethos of ‘I’m alright Jack’ and looking after number one…for instance all voters should be concerned about the availability of affordable housing for our youngsters but simultaneously about the availability of proper care facilities for the elderly.

[Trickytreesreds]

Tricky, you do make me laugh. Can’t win can I? By choosing to avoid GBNews - aka a PPB on behalf of the Right - I’m apparently ‘blinkered’, yet when I quote from a right wing think tank, guess what…that’s my fault too.

For the final time…it’s not ‘MY think tank’ and I’m not saying immigration won’t be an issue. What I am saying is that according to the findings of this particular ‘think tank’ - which did canvas opinions from the electorate - that your obsession with immigration via small boats crossing the channel is going to be fourth or fifth in the pecking order of major election issues.

So…one last go. The survey on which this report is based was called ‘The People’s Priorities’…there’s a clue there somewhere. When asked for a single priority the order was as follows. 1st Overcoming inflation 26% 2nd= NHS and Energy self sufficiency 15% 4th= Small boats and reducing taxes 12%.

When asked for their top three issues the results were; 1st= Inflation and the NHS with 48% 3rd. Energy self sufficiency 33%, 4th small boats 28% and 5th reducing taxes 26%.

Of course, for the reasons Swale pointed out earlier, such findings may well be flawed because we don’t know who was asked or how the questions were framed. All we know specifically is that, where immigration across the channel on small boats is concerned, this was particularly popular amongst older Conservative and Leave voters but did not resonate at all with younger or left leaning voters.

To close…for the umptee*th time, these are NOT MY findings. The fact that they are the findings of those on the political Right should, I would have thought, be a source of concern to you. Those you appear to support, not me, have your obsession far down the percentage pecking order in terms of voter interest with just 12% of voters regarding small boats crossing the channel as their number one priority. Doubtless this will lead to an abundance of fake photos of Muslims arriving on Margate beach or invading the Isle of Wight (remember the Brexit campaign?)…just don’t shoot the messenger!

let me simplify it for you. IMMIGRATION !!! NOT JUST SMALL BOATS FIASCO.
750 000 NET last year.

You found a biased Tory think tank that sucks up to your dillusions, that folks aren't fed up with immigration.
Back in your hole and stick your fingers in your ears

[MadAmster]

let me simplify it for you. IMMIGRATION !!! NOT JUST SMALL BOATS FIASCO.
750 000 NET last year.

You found a biased Tory think tank that sucks up to your dillusions, that folks aren't fed up with immigration.
Back in your hole and stick your fingers in your ears

Surely, the net figure isn't anything like the full picture.

Business owners and shareholders want turnover to remain static at worst and, preferably, increase. This because they have a lot but want more. Low birth rates would decrease population figures. The size of the market place has to remain stable and, preferably grow. There are more job vacancies than job seekers. How do we fill those vacancies without immigration?

Solve that problem and we can shut the door on immigrants but only once we have zero vacancies in the NHS and other vytal areas.

[ramAnag]

let me simplify it for you. IMMIGRATION !!! NOT JUST SMALL BOATS FIASCO.
750 000 NET last year.

You found a biased Tory think tank that sucks up to your dillusions, that folks aren't fed up with immigration.
Back in your hole and stick your fingers in your ears

Thanks for that articulate and constructive response. Knew it’d be ‘biased’…says the advocate of GBNews.

[Trickytreesreds]

Surely, the net figure isn't anything like the full picture.

Business owners and shareholders want turnover to remain static at worst and, preferably, increase. This because they have a lot but want more. Low birth rates would decrease population figures. The size of the market place has to remain stable and, preferably grow. There are more job vacancies than job seekers. How do we fill those vacancies without immigration?

Solve that problem and we can shut the door on immigrants but only once we have zero vacancies in the NHS and other vytal areas.

Maddy, that's tosh. 90 000 were admitted for health care work last year. Doesn't exactly explain the rest does it?
When you are allowing students(who actually don't meet the rquirements of entry for a lot of them) to come here AND bring their families, why? Student Migration to the UK

Migration Observatory
https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk › briefings › stud...
24 Jan 2024 — In the 2021/22 academic year, approximately 680,000 international students were enrolled in UK higher education, making up 24% of all entries?

Immigration is supposed to be managed. It isn't.
Every immigrant, for whatever reason- brings pressure on housing/NHS/education/services/transport , as well as social problems and stifling wages .

We need immigration! But only what we need


But we are supposed to be managing it, like most countries in the world do.
Australia is very strict on immigration, yet needs workers when it suits. But even theirs was less than ours and thats after issuing 0.5 million temp visas for food picking.
London now has a population density of between 10 000 -15000 /km2 and rising. Sydney 2037 people per square kilometre,

This is why immigration is an issue to most folks. No disrespect to RA, but he lives in rural Derbyshire. He is hardly likely to feel the pains of poorer people living in these areas.

[Trickytreesreds]

Thanks for that articulate and constructive response. Knew it’d be ‘biased’…says the advocate of GBNews.

You bent the topic into the boats crisis.
It isn't the only thing and wasn't the the only thing I have been moaning about. The boats are the ulimate piss take. It costs billions to accomodate these young single men fleeing persecution (cough)But in the grand scheme of things, they are not even included in the net 750 000 migration figures.

You made out that was my single gripe. It isn't