Existing academic research has highlighted the potentially negative consequences of ethnic and cultural diversity for citizens' willingness to trust and cooperate with one another
20 and the potentially negative effect of ethnic and cultural divisions on welfare provision, as citizens come to perceive the recipients of public funding as vastly different from themselves. The author's own research points to the conclusion that concerns about cultural diversity may also have negative consequences for democratic political systems, because such concerns are weakening the sense of connection between citizens and the institutions and elites that govern them. Such a conclusion is particularly worrying given that most democracies have become culturally diverse, especially after the influx of immigrants in the post-Second World War period. If this association was limited to certain political parties or certain governments, the findings would be far less troubling, as they would indicate that concern about immigration really only affects specific support for governments of the day rather than more deep-seated diffuse or general system support.
The findings here, however, point to a potentially persistent, strong relationship between concern about immigration and distrust in politics in Britain. These findings confirm that the perceived harm to national community being done by large-scale immigration to Britain has potentially serious consequences for attitudes toward the political system as a whole, including all government institutions and elites of all political leanings. Thus, despite the British public's association of the Conservative party with toughness on immigration, the findings reported here indicate that in modern-day Britain, the public may be equally sceptical about all parties' ability to control immigration.
Of course, the survey used here came at a fairly early stage of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government, and so it will be important to continue to monitor this relationship as relevant survey data become available. At present, though, based on the 2010–11 survey used here, it appears that the connection between concern about immigration and political distrust is strong and robust. Why might this be the case?
While the Conservative party has consistently been seen as the best party to handle immigration and asylum issues compared with the other main parties, the Ipsos MORI data discussed above point to the conclusion that for the past decade or so, a larger group of survey respondents have actually come to think either that
none of the three main parties are best on immigration, or that they are unsure as to which is better. That is, while those who do think one of these parties is better on immigration tend to say it is the Conservatives who are stronger, there are often many more British citizens who are not clear about which party is stronger. This, in turn, perhaps reflects a high level of scepticism on the part of the British public about the ability of the political system as a whole to have much impact on immigration policy, particularly since the passing of the Human Rights Act in 1998—which had significant repercussions for control of immigration and asylum policy—and more recently the large influx of EU immigrants who were not subject to UK immigration controls (by the government's own choice).
The prospect of reduced levels of political trust as a result of concerns about the impact of immigration on British culture and society has potentially serious consequences for governance. Academic research indicates, for instance, that individuals are more willing to try to cheat the system (not pay taxes and not pay for public transportation) and are more willing to break the law when their perceptions of the political system are negative.
22 As noted above, some research indicates that people are also less willing to support state policies involving redistribution of state funds when they perceive cultural differences between themselves and those who access these funds. In short, the possibility of reduced levels of political trust resulting from concerns about immigration presents the prospect of a weakened political system. The findings here point to the conclusion that this is now a potentially persistent phenomenon which
all political parties in Britain must in some way address.
