A recent poll has revealed that the Liberal Democrat party are united in their view on UK immigration.
Conducted by Ipsos Mori, and published by the Financial Times, the research showed that all Lib Dem MPs interviewed by the pollsters were in agreement on the view that restrictions on migrants will harm the UK’s economic competiveness.
Vince Cable, the Lib Dem business secretary, has been vocal in the past about his concerns in this area. He has previously warned the government to keep the country open to “overseas talent” in business, higher education and science, warning that the Conservative-led Coalition’s aim of reducing immigration to the tens of thousands annually could have a serious impact on the wider economy.
It’s clear that the Conservatives are not in agreement with the Lib Dem stance on immigration. In fact, just nine per cent of Conservatives expressed this opinion, while 82 per cent stated that they did not believe restrictions on UK work permits and other migrant routes would damage the country’s economy.
Even Labour, a party that has been particularly pro-immigration in recent years, did not show as strong a view as the Lib Dems. The Ipsos Mori study found that only 48 per cent of Labour agreed with the statement that restrictions on immigration would damage the competitiveness of the UK economy, with 22 per cent in disagreement.
The poll also suggested showed some clear division of opinion between the parties on the matter of the euro. Overall, 40 per cent of MPs believed that the euro will not survive the debt crisis in the European single currency area. This was split across the three parties with 64 per cent of Tories in agreement, compared to 30 per cent of Lib Dems and 15 per cent of Labour MPs.