The Conservative Party is seeking its supporters’ views on immigration policy - but each poll question appears to be loaded with anti-immigrant bias to say the least.
It raises the question: are the Conservatives genuinely interested in your opinion? Immigration is a subject where facts are often hidden under emotions, so let's take a statistical look at what's going on.
We've answered each of the questions from the original survey - with unbiased facts and accurate statistics.
1. Do you agree with controlling immigration so our economy and local services deliver for hardworking taxpayers?
Our answer: Immigration contributes more to the British economy than it takes out.
Let’s tackle this one head on: there is almost no evidence suggesting that immigration has damaged our economy or the strength of the welfare system.
In fact there have been some studies which found the opposite is true. For example, last year a report by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) found a direct link between higher immigration and stronger economic growth.
The OBR - an independent body led by individuals appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer - said that cutting the number of foreign workers in the UK will make it harder for the Government to clear its deficit.
The OBR explains why, in a nutshell:
“Because [migrants are] more likely to be working age, they’re more likely to be paying taxes and less likely to have relatively large sums of money spent on them for education, for long-term care, for healthcare, for pension expenditure”
Just a side note: Nigel Farage recently said that he’d rather be poorer than live in a country that accepts migrants.
2. Do you agree with our policy of clamping down on benefits tourism and health tourism?
Our answer: A loaded question, but health tourism doesn't seem to cost much (there's little data). Benefits tourism is pretty much negligible.
This summer the Government announced plans to crack down on health tourism by charging foreign visitors and overseas migrants 150% of the cost of medical treatment: so a £100 procedure would be billed up to £150.
They hope to recover around £500m a year from this initiative.
This should make up for the cost to the public purse of health tourism, which a recent Department of Health report put at between £70 million to £300 million.
Or, to put it another way, between 0.06% and 0.3% of the annual NHS budget. Suddenly that sounds like a lot less...
How many migrants are claiming benefits?
In 2013, 397,160 migrants were claiming benefits- that’s roughly 5.3% of the migrant population in the UK and 7% of all benefit claimants. Sounds like a lot but what does it mean?
According to Office of National Statistics data, taken as a group, recent immigrants pay 34% more in taxes than they claim in benefits. In fact, migrants are 45% less likely to claim anything than native-born Brits.
3. Do you agree with shutting down bogus colleges?
Our answer: Yes - most people do. Including the Labour party.
In the survey, the Conservatives’ immigration policy is presented as in direct opposition to Labour’s which, they say, “let immigration spiral out of control”.
In fact, it was the last Labour government which gave the UK Border Agency the authority to suspend or revoke a college's licence to sponsor overseas students.
4. Do you agree with making it easier to deport foreign criminals?
Our answer: Whether you agree or not, bear in mind fewer foreign criminals have been removed from the country since the Coalition came to power in 2010.
Sources: Parliament and Home Office
5. Do you agree with insisting immigrants speak better English?
Our answer: It is of course important for migrants to learn. People who don’t speak English are less likely to find a job and get much lower wages.
But it's very straightforward: the vast majority of migrants speak English, and many of them are fluent.
The 2011 Census found that only about 1.6% of the total UK population said they either could not speak English well. Of these, 138,000 - just 0.3% of the total population - don't speak English at all.
You're welcome.
- Due to a crucial missing digit, this article originally said 97,160 migrants were claiming benefits, not the correct figure of 397,160. Given our name, you’d think we’d be quite good at remembering 3s.