Immigration and crime are two major issues for the British public (Image: Getty)
Immigration is the most important issue for the public, a bombshell new poll has revealed.
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Concern over net migration numbers and the Channel small boats crisis means more than one in three Britons now see the topic as the most important facing the Government.
And the public are increasingly worried about crime, with one in four now seeing it as a big issue.
The poll was conducted after the Southport atrocity - where three young girls were stabbed to death - riots and knife fights in Southend-on-Sea in Essex.
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The riots have ignited concern about immigration and crime (Image: Getty)
Thirty-four per cent of those polled said immigration is now an important issue for the country, putting it top of the Ipsos Issues Index list for the first time in almost eight years.
And 25 per cent of people believe crime is the most important topic, rocketing up from just six per cent a month ago.
Mike Clemence at Ipsos said: “The impact of the recent riots across the UK is clear in this month’s data. Immigration has returned as the top issue for the country for the first time since 2016, while the level of concern about crime and race relations has also surged to recent highs.
“While concern about the NHS has fallen sharply since its election high point it remains a significant issue for the country, alongside the economy and inflation, along with clear differences in priorities by age and party support.”
Figures show net migration - the difference between numbers arriving and leaving the UK - was 685,000 last year, and 764,000 in 2022.
Former Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel insisted the Tories should not apologise for high levels of immigration as the Government was trying to rebuild the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asked if she wanted to apologise for high migration under the Tory government, Dame Priti Patel told GB News: "What did the Government choose to do, and I think this is the right thing to do. We absolutely made sure we gave the NHS the support that it needed through health and social care visas.
"Are we going to say that was the wrong thing to do? I mean, knock on doors and ask your listeners, your viewers.
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"Would they say we should not have had more doctors and nurses? I think they would not."
Ms Patel said a drive to slash legal migration must be accompanied by a skills strategy, to make sure the domestic workforce is sufficiently trained.
She said: "If you don't want so many people to come in to work in our country, then there's a wider discussion to be had there about having a labour market strategy."
She added: "I've spent years when I was in government as well, all colleagues lobbying for more seasonal agricultural workers, more lorry drivers, lorry drivers.
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"Actually, DWP did some really good work on to actually ensure training schemes are in place. But again, it speaks to our economic needs and how we are actually going to grow the talent that people automatically serve we have domestically here."
Patel refused to say whether she wanted net migration to be under 100,000 a year, as her rival Mel Stride has pledged, insisting that Brexit had given ministers "the levers of control".