Public opinion, party politics, policy, and immigration news in the United Kingdom

In: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:23bcc2b6-381e-481e-a346-b0940c4d8e45

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between public pressures and immigration policy. Using agenda-setting theory as a foundation, it investigates links between news coverage of immigration issues, public opinion, political party positions, and Parliamentary actions on immigration policy in the UK between 1990 and 2010. It finds strong relations among news, opinion, and party attention, but weak relations between those factors and policy enactment. It also shows that no single party or newspapers with particular political leanings can be held responsible for the rising interest in immigration and policy enactment in the past two decades. It concludes that the simple claim that public pressure produces policy (restrictive or otherwise) is not a robust explanation of the policy dynamics and that other factors and dynamics must play significant intervening roles.