Sources of anti-immigration attitudes in the United Kingdom : the impact of population, labour market and skills context

This paper explores individual and regional characteristics as sources of anti-immigration attitudes of white UK born respondents using survey data from the five rounds of the European Social Survey, between 2002 and 2010, alongside regional indicators of population composition, labour market and skills context computed from the Labour Force Survey. Contrary to expectations, the regional unemployment rates for natives and immigrants are not statistically associated with a higher or lower probability of expressing anti-immigration attitudes. Furthermore, findings sug- gest that native respondents are more likely to support immigration restriction of those from poorer countries regardless of whether they are European or not and irrespective of ethnicity.