Ben Clements
Ben Clements is Associate Professor in Politics, in the School of History, Politics and International Relations. University of Leicester. His research interests include British public opinion towards foreign and defence policy in the post-war period. He has published widely on this topic, including British Public Opinion on Foreign and Defence Policy: 1945-2017 (Routledge, 2019)
Immigration in British society became a more politically prominent and divisive issue in the 1960s. The decade saw legislation introduced – in 1962 under the Conservatives; in 1965 and 1968 under Labour governments – which imposed controls on Commonwealth immigration, as well new laws on race relations in 1965 and 1968. Prominent Conservative politician Enoch Powell made his highly-controversial ‘rivers-of-blood’ speech in April 1968, which led to widespread condemnation across the mainstream parties but also elicited significant public support for Powell’s comments. Polling was carried by NOP to gauge the public’s reaction to this legislation, to Powell’s intervention and to other aspects of the issue. The polling sheds light on the overall nature of public attitudes and of areas of consensus and disagreement across different groups in society.
The legislation on Commonwealth immigration obtained widespread public support. In August 1965, 88% backed the Labour government’s legislation, with 5% saying it was wrong, with large majorities in favour among supporters of the main political parties (89% of Conservative voters and 90% of Labour voters).
Source: https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NOP_Reports/id/1832/rec/41
In March 1968, 79% supported the Labour government’s latest immigration bill, and 15% opposed it. As in 1965, there was similarly widespread backing among supporters of the main parties (78% of Conservative voters and 81% of Labour voters).
Polling asked directly about positions held on immigration. Please note that some language used in the question wordings from the 1960s is not acceptable in contemporary British society (ie in the 2020s). The public was against a complete ban on ‘coloured immigration’ when asked in March (before Powell’s intervention in the debate) and October 1968, with 56% and 54%, respectively, disagreeing with such a policy. In October 1968, support for such a policy was somewhat higher among Conservative (46%) than Labour (37%) supporters.
Source: https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NOP_Reports/id/1724/rec/35.
NOP carried out polling in response to Enoch Powell’s deeply controversial ‘rivers of blood’ speech, delivered in April 1968 to an audience of Conservative Party activists in Birmingham. A range of questions were asked to gauge public opinion, including about Powell’s views and his sacking from the Conservative shadow cabinet, where he was shadow Secretary of State for Defence, shortly after making the speech.
A poll carried out by NOP in April 1968 soon after Powell’s speech showed that key parts of his claims about the deleterious impacts of immigration on British society and the measured needs to address this – which received strong criticism within and beyond parliament – received broad public backing. The polling data shows that:
- 93% agreed with a ‘drastic reduction on further immigration’;
- 78% agreed that ‘that there is a danger of racial violence in Britain unless the inflow of immigrants is cut down by Government action’;
- 64% agreed that ‘immigrants already in Britain should be encouraged by Governments grants to return home’.
On the issue of the Labour government’s Race Relations Bill of 1968 (the first Race Relations Act became law in 1965), attitudes were broadly split over its provisions which made ‘it an offence to discriminate on grounds of colour’, with 45% approving and 46% disapproving.
See the relevant tables here:
https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NOP_Reports/id/1632/rec/27
https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NOP_Reports/id/1633/rec/27
In May 1968, is clear that support for the views expressed by Powell was broad-based, both in general (67% agreed, 19% disagreed) and across party supporters and socio-economic groups. But Labour and Liberal supporters (both 58%) were somewhat less likely to express agreement than were Conservative supporters (75%). There was also widespread disagreement with Powell’s sacking from the shadow cabinet by Conservative leader Ted Heath (61% wrong, 25% right) and this is again evident across supporters of the major parties and among different socio-economic groups. In this instance, there was little difference in the views of Conservative supporters (25% right, 62% wrong) and Labour supporters (27% right, 60% wrong).
Source: https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NOP_Reports/id/1677/rec/16
These are some of the NOP polls that the AMSR holds on public opinion towards immigration in British society. Further examples from the 1960’s and later periods can be located by searching the individual collections, in particular:
MORI BRITISH PUBLIC OPINION (BPO) COLLECTION: Immigration mentions from 1986 – 2001/2: Search Results – The AMSR Online Archive. There are many mentions of Immigration mostly overall concern, and government priorities. This report from 2003 has some more detail: British Public Opinion Issue 25.04 2003 Spring – Page 7 – MORI British Public Opinion – The AMSR Online Archive
NOP REPORTS COLLECTION: Immigration mentions from 1965 – 1991 Search Results – The AMSR Online Archive. Again there are many mentions, some of the more significant/interesting data can be found in these particular reports:
NOP Bulletin 1968 March – Page 7 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive
NOP Bulletin 1968 December – Page 6 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive
NOP Political, Social, Economic Review Issue no.6 1976 April – Page 20 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive
Political Social Economic Review: Immigration and Race Relations 1978 April – Page 1 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive
Political Social Economic Review 1978 October – Page 9 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive
Political Social Economic Review 1978 December – Page 11 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive
NOP Political, Social, Economic Review Issue no.73 1988 December – Page 8 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive
MORE RECENT POLLS: Polls from 2004 – 2014 from Lord Ashcroft, MORI, ICM, Various newspapers and the BBC can be found here:
Polls on immigration, 2004-2014 – Page 1 – Opinion Poll Reports – The AMSR Online Archive
An article in the A-Level magazine Modern History Review discussing Gallup polling data on immigration and race relations from the 1950s-70s, written by Professor Marcus Collins, is available here.
Dr Ben Clements, University of Leicester
Phyllis Macfarlane, AMSR
September 2025