Immigration not the key to BNP growth — report

London: Higher immigration to an area is not to blame for driving the voters into the arms of the BNP, according to a study exploring the roots of its support published on Sunday.

In fact, the analysis by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that nine out of the top 10 areas for BNP votes actually had a lower-than-average proportion of recent migrants.

Instead the study which looked at the roots of BNP support across 150 local authority areas suggested that social exclusion, such as lack of qualifications, weak social cohesion, and low levels of voter turnout were far more important.

The IPPR researchers found that the idea that politicians needed to adopt tougher immigration controls to undermine the BNP was misleading.

Instead they need to build stronger communities, stronger education systems and rebuild trust in democratic politics so that "marginalised and isolated" people do not feel so disconnected.

The researchers said the BNP leader Nick Griffin argued that in many working-class and lower middle-class areas immigration had brought in so many people that migrants "totally swamp the existing people, destroying their communities" and led them to support his party.

"The findings suggest that areas which have higher levels of recent immigration are not more likely to vote for the BNP," researchers reported.

"In fact the more immigration an area has experienced, the lower its support for the far right," researchers found.

"It seems that direct contact with migrants dissuades people from supporting the BNP. For example, of the 10 local authorities where the BNP gained most support in the 2009 European elections, nine had lower than average immigration."

Barking and Dagenham, which has had significantly higher levels of recent migration, was the exception rather than the rule, researchers found.