Four out of five people support cut in immigration

Nearly four out of five people believe the number of immigrants coming into Britain should be reduced, a Government survey has revealed.

The poll, commissioned by the Communities and Local Government Department, showed 78% of people in England and Wales thought immigration into the UK should be cut, while 19% thought it should stay the same.

A quarter (24%) said they wanted immigration reduced "a little", while 54% wanted it cut "a lot".

Three per cent though immigration should increase.

Sir Andrew Green, from think-tank Migrationwatch, told the Daily Mail: "These figures are a very clear indication that, despite out economic troubles, immigration remains high among public concerns."

The study also found that 45% of people believed there was more racial prejudice today than five years ago.

And it revealed 7% of English adults felt racial or religious harassment was a "very" or "fairly big" problem in their local area.

Statistics also showed that 22% of people thought that they would be treated worse than people of other races by at least one of the eight public service organisations measured.

Ten thousand adults in England and Wales were interviewed between April and September last year as part of the Citizenship Survey.

The opinions of a further 5,000 ethnic minority members and 1,200 Muslims were also gauged to make sure their views were robustly represented.

Participants were asked questions covering a range of issues including influencing decisions, volunteering, community cohesion, fear of crime, racial and religious prejudice, discrimination and attitudes toward violent extremism.

The Citizenship Survey has been commissioned every two years since 2001.