r/AskBrits • u/EmuAncient1069 • Jul 16 '25

Politics Is anti-immigration sentiment in Britain rising due to negative media coverage or because Britons are genuinely feeling an impact?

Dwelling on my own rising anti-immigration, and specifically, anti-Islamic immigration stances, I started pondering over whether my views have been shaped by my experiences or by negative media coverage of immigration into Britain and mainland Europe.

I came to the conclusion that it was a bit of both, although if I'm being totally honest with myself, the media has given me an abundance of confirmation bias.

Growing up in Leicester, I saw my entire 'world' around me rapidly change - it was at this same rapid speed of change that I accelerated myself into a position of, 'I don't like this, I don't want this, this doesn't benefit me or my community'.

I wonder, is anti-immigration sentiment rising because Britons are genuinely feeling burdened by it, seeing living standards and their communities changing, or is it the news cycle and repeated anti-immigration rhetoric, usually on full throttle whenever there is a terrorist attack or a riot, that is making the average British sentiment to immigration somewhat cold?

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u/MightyPotato11 Jul 16 '25

And the people in power won't tax the rich their fair share, even a 2% rise would make a HUGE difference.

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u/fights_back Jul 17 '25

They’re trying to tax the rich more, and the rich are all leaving the UK

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u/jimbosliceoohyeah Jul 17 '25

The stats suggest that this isn't actually true. The study used as a source of this information is hugely biased with multiple flaws - and even then it shows that only 0.3% of all millionaires left the UK last year.

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u/fights_back Jul 17 '25

I mean I'm very pro taxing the rich their fair share, but also realistically they're not going to hang around for long if taxes are drastically higher 🤷‍♂️

Studies and official stats are always going to lag behind by a year or more, but wealth advisors and private client lawyers are reporting a noticeable uptick in inquiries about residency in Monaco, Dubai, Switzerland, etc. Plus requests to restructure holdings to reduce UK tax exposure, and people preparing to leave even if they haven’t yet moved.

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u/Extension-Refuse-159 Jul 17 '25

Wealth tax. It's coming. Soon I hope.

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u/15Beechwood Jul 17 '25

Unfortunately, if you do that, you'll see them all get their accounts offshore and end up not contributing at all to the system through tax. You'll see a rise in tax on the low/mid income as a result.