Almost seven in ten lack trust in Conservatives to handle issue of migrants crossing the Channel
But a majority do not trust the Labour party either on immigration, according to new Ipsos research.
- Labour retains a narrow lead over Conservatives on a range of immigration issues – but majority do not trust them either.
- Only one in five (19%) think Rishi Sunak is doing a good as Prime Minister, similar levels to Liz Truss (18%) after the mini-Budget.
New polling from Ipsos, conducted between 19-22 January, shows almost seven in ten (69%) do not trust the Conservatives very much or at all to handle the issue of migrants crossing the channel. Only one in four (24%) say they trust them ‘a great deal’ or ‘a fair amount’.
Similar levels lack trust in the Conservatives ability to make it harder to enter the country illegally (64%) or to have the right policies towards asylum seekers (65%) or on immigration (66%) more generally. Fewer than three in ten trust them on each of these issues (28%, 27%, 27% respectively). These figures are similar to when the public were last asked the same questions in May 2023.
As shown below, the Labour party has a slight lead over the Conservatives on most of these issues (apart from making it harder to enter the country illegally where the Conservatives are narrowly ahead). However, across issues, the majority say they do trust Keir Starmer’s party either.
This comes as only one in five (19%) say Rishi Sunak has done a good job as Prime Minister, compared to half say bad job (51%). These figures are similar to those Liz Truss received in the days after delivering her mini budget (18% good job vs. 50% bad job in September 2022).
Only 13% say that James Cleverley has been doing a good job as Home Secretary, compared to two in five saying he is doing a bad job (39%).
Ipsos Director of Politics Keiran Pedley said of the findings:
Rishi Sunak has put immigration at the centre of the Conservatives' re-election strategy, promising to 'stop the boats'. These figures suggest the public are yet to be convinced that his strategy is working. Even with the Rwanda Bill making it to the House of Lords, the majority still think his Government is doing a bad job in passing new laws to stop small boats. Nevertheless, almost seven in ten still lack trust in the Conservatives to handle Channel crossings overall.
Technical note
Ipsos interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,047 adults aged 18-75 in Great Britain. Interviews took place on the online Omnibus 19-22 January 2024. Data has been weighted to the known offline population proportions. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.