Immigration is the biggest burden on NHS, say Labour voters

Telegraph

4 hours ago

Labour voters now believe immigration is the biggest burden on the NHS.
Britons who backed Sir Keir Starmer's party at the general election last year think high levels of immigration are having more of an effect on the health service than the ageing population.
A poll of 2,000 Labour supporters by Merlin Strategy also found that one in five Labour voters would now consider casting their ballots for Reform UK.
It comes as Nigel Farage's party continues to enjoy a comfortable opinion poll lead after promising to effectively freeze non-essential migration and put an end to illegal Channel crossings.
Research carried out on May 24 asked people who voted Labour in 2024 which of five factors they believed was 'the biggest burden' on the NHS.
Some 24 per cent said high levels of immigration, with 22 per cent saying the mental health crisis.
Thirteen per cent said a lack of social care provisions, while 12 per cent blamed junk food and obesity. A further 10 per cent said the biggest burden was people vaping.
The remaining 19 per cent did not pick an option or said they did not know.
Sir Keir said in a major speech last month that record levels of net migration to Britain in recent years had placed a heavy strain on the country's public services.
Maxwell Marlow, the director of public affairs at the Adam Smith Institute, which commissioned the poll, said: 'It is clear that the British people have felt the impact of mass immigration on healthcare.
'Unless the government moves quickly, urging immigrants to purchase private health care as a requirement for any visa other than tourism, then they will continue to hold the Government accountable for the very rapid deterioration in their access to healthcare.'
Sir Keir has been criticised for a lack of vision during his first year in office, with only 51 per cent of Labour voters saying the Government was prioritising issues that mattered to them.
More than one in four (28 per cent) now regretted voting Labour and more than one in five (22 per cent) were now considering whether to vote for Reform at the next election.
Two in five respondents (40 per cent) said they approved of Mr Farage, while 41 per cent disapproved.
Scarlett Maguire, the director of Merlin Strategy, said: 'Labour voters are clear that they want to see action on cost of living, healthcare, and immigration.
'The Government needs to show that it is in tune with these priorities and that it understands what matters to their core voters.'
Merlin Strategy also conducted a focus group in Runcorn and Helsby, one of the safest Labour seats at the 2024 election, before the party lost the seat to Reform by six votes at last month's by-election.
Respondents said Sir Keir's Government was 'afraid of upsetting people', while another member of the group said: 'I don't think they give a toss about us.'
The group were also unconvinced by the timing of Sir Keir's plans to clamp down on tobacco and vapes, which have banned disposable vapes and will raise the smoking age by one year, every year.
'How is that really relatable to the working person?' one member asked, adding that it was 'just something shiny to put in the media'.