Perception is all when it comes to immigration

"Migration, let's face it, is an emotive issue - one where perceptions matter" says Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.

Nowhere is this more the case than in Britain. The majority of British people think immigration is a problem in this country, that there are too many immigrants here, and that Britain should accept fewer asylum seekers. International comparisons always see us at or near the top of any league table of concern – and it remains a key issue influencing how people vote.

• See our Global @dvisor poll: Too many immigrants?

But as Barroso’s quote makes clear, we’re not the only country to worry about immigration and asylum, or to see it as key electoral issue. This makes the European Commission’s commitment to establishing a Common European Asylum System in 2012 particularly politically charged, and challenging to gain a European consensus on. The aim is to harmonise the process of seeking asylum in Europe, and introduce a formal mechanism for redistributing asylum seekers across EU member states during crises. The rationale is clear: in a Europe without internal borders, and a commitment among its members to the same fundamental values, it makes sense to have a coordinated approach to sharing the impact. And the proposals have, unsurprisingly, found support among a number of southern European states, at a time when significant numbers of migrants are crossing the Mediterranean as a result of the Arab Spring and particularly the crisis in Libya. But further north, public perception is likely to prove a stumbling block. This is clearly because, when it comes to public perceptions, immigration and asylum are national and local concerns, where the perceived effects are on services, resources and identity at a country and community level. It’s no surprise then that the 2010 Transatlantic Trends report showed that 62% of Europeans think the number of immigrants allowed into their country should be dictated by the national government, not the European Union. The British government agrees: Theresa May last year said that the plans for a common asylum system represented an unacceptable loss of sovereignty. But the desire for national control is not only about practical impacts on resources – it also relates to a sense of fairness, and, more precisely, the suspicion seen in many countries that they are taking more than their fair share of the burden. For example, in Britain six in ten think we take proportionally more asylum seekers than other countries – despite the fact that we rank mid-table in Europe on asylum applications. To go back to Barroso’s quote, misperceptions are important too. The European Council’s recent ruling to allow for the reintroduction of internal border controls within the Schengen area (which covers much of Europe, but excludes Britain) in “exceptional” circumstances is evidence of the anxiety in some continental European states. Our forthcoming report on attitudes to the Schengen Agreement also provides a fascinating insight into how deep concerns run in Britain. From the nine countries included in the study, the one most likely to support the reintroduction of border controls was Britain – even though we’ve never given ours up. Not only do we want greater control over who visits Britain, we’re not keen on freedom of movement between other countries. The political accountability of governments to their populations means Britain and every other EU state does not want to look like they’re carrying the “burden” for the rest of Europe, even where this is based on a misreading of the facts. A common European approach is particularly politically toxic in Britain, given two-thirds distrust the EU itself, higher than any other European country. Perceptions are key, and we’ve seen how pro-immigration arguments over the last few years have at best left the public unmoved, and at worst hardened views by seeming so out of touch. It will be an even harder task to convince people this is an issue that can be solved through greater international cooperation, not less. Bobby Duffy is managing director of Ipsos's Social Research Institute and director of the global Ipsos Social Research Institute. He wrote this article for The Sunday Times (*subscription required).