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Migrants sit on board a dinghy as they prepare to sail into the English Channel on March 5, 2026 in Gravelines, France.
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'Out of touch': Poll shows most Britons want Channel migrants detained on arrival
Sep 08, 2026
- 57% of voters back detaining small boat migrants until claims are processed
- Just 11% view Channel migrants positively, against 70% who don't
- 67% want only temporary leave to remain for successful asylum claims
- Voter John Hill says politicians handling the crisis are "absolutely out of touch"
MOST of the public think that small boat migrants should be detained on arrival in Britain and not allowed out until their claims have been processed, according to YouGov polling for The Times, which lays bare growing public anger over the migration crisis.
The tough approach was backed by 57 per cent of voters, who said people seeking asylum in the UK should be held in secure accommodation from which they would not be allowed to leave until their claim was processed.
Burnham and Macron discuss new measures to tackle migrant boats
Just 29 per cent said they should be able to come and go from their accommodation at will. A further 55 per cent said migrants should be held on large sites such as military barracks.
The survey, carried out this year as part of the Times series on migration, shows the toll that a decade of small boat crossings, and repeated political failure to get on top of the problem, has taken on public opinion.
Only 11 per cent of voters had a positive view of people crossing the Channel to seek asylum, against 70 per cent who had a negative opinion.
Whistleblower says asylum system riddled with fraud
Feelings on legal migration are far less hostile. Over half, 56 per cent, of voters had a positive view of migrants coming to the UK legally to work, compared with 21 per cent who had a negative view.
Caoimhe Cavanagh, 26, a travel sales adviser from Hackney, east London, said: "I think placing asylum seekers in hotels in the first place doesn't make sense. It also creates a place that can be easily highlighted on the far right to highlight parts of the problems those people in the community are facing and it makes it all too easy to put their problems on the asylum seekers."
UK Introduces 30-Month Refugee Status Reviews
The polling, carried out in April, also found strong support for ending the automatic right to stay in Britain forever after a successful asylum claim. Two thirds, 67 per cent, backed only temporary leave to remain, while 54 per cent said failed claimants should not be able to appeal.
John Hill, 77, from Clacton, summed up the frustration many voters feel. "[Labour] came in on a manifesto that they were going to smash the gangs and it's just got worse and worse," he said. "They've just kicked the can down the road... They [politicians] are absolutely out of touch. They can put a man on the moon so I'm sure they can stop the boats if they really want to."
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