number of people who think you must speak English to be considered “truly British” has increased over the last 10 years, a survey has found.
The annual British Social Attitudes report found 95% of people thought it was important to speak English to be British, compared with 86% in 2003.
It also found 61% thought EU immigrants should have to wait three years before being able to claim benefits.
Almost a quarter said the main reason immigrants came to the UK was benefits
We might expect people to be more relaxed about what it means to be British, yet the trend is going in the opposite direction”
Penny YoungNatCen Social Research
NatCen Social Research has been running its report for 31 years. It surveyed more than 3,000 people to assess changing social attitudes in Britain.
‘Tougher rules’
The proportion of people who said a person must have lived in Britain for most of their life to be considered British went up from 69% in 2003 to 77%.
The report found fewer people believed legal immigrants who were not British citizens should have the same rights as British citizens – dropping from 40% in 2003 to 27%.
Some 74% said it was important to have been born in Britain to be considered British, while 28% of people outside London thought immigration was good for the economy, compared to 54% in London.
The number of people who believe immigrants increase crime rates in Britain went up from 37% in 2003 to 43% in 2013.
Other key findings include:
- Half thought the main reason immigrants come to Britain was for work, but 24% said the main reason was to claim benefits
- Around half (51%) said it was important to have British ancestry to be considered British, while 24% said you needed to be Christian
- Some 85% said it is important to respect Britain’s political institutions and laws to be “truly British”
- In Scotland, 62% thought an independent Scotland should keep the same King or Queen as England, while 79% of Scots said they should continue to use the pound
- The survey indicated almost 70% of people in England and Wales believed an independent Scotland should be allowed to share the pound.
Penny Young, chief executive of NatCen Social Research, said the survey had found many people wanted “tougher rules on benefits”.
n an increasingly diverse, multi-cultural country, we might expect people to be more relaxed about what it means to be British, yet the trend is going in the opposite direction,” she said.
“It is now harder to be considered British than in the past and one message comes through loud and clear; if you want to be British, you must speak English.”
Rules on immigrants claiming benefits vary depending on which benefit they want to claim.
The government has been imposing new restrictions in recent months, including one which came into force in January under which migrant jobseekers must be in the UK for three months before they can claim Jobseeker’s Allowance.
The survey interviews were carried out from June to November 2013 – before the so-called Trojan Horse attempt by Islamists to take control of schools in Birmingham became public knowledge.
Education Secretary Michael Gove responded to the Trojan Horse issue by saying schools should promote “British values”.
Bbc
