The British public do not trust Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt to handle immigration, figures published on Monday suggest.
An ICM poll for the British Future think-tank showed Johnson was distrusted by 49% of the public on immigration and trusted by 22%, a net score of minus-27.
Fewer say they distrust Hunt on immigration (41%) but only 13% say they trust him on the issue – a net score of minus-28.
But the problem is one both Tory leadership candidates inherited from Theresa May.
Just 18% of the public – and only a quarter (25%) of 2017 Conservative voters – think May did a good job of managing immigration as prime minister and home secretary.
And only 13% of the public agrees that “The government has managed immigration into the UK competently and fairly.”
The poll was conducted for British Future’s “Immigration after May – what should the new prime minister change?” report published today.
Distrust in politicians is widespread, however, with no politician of any party securing a positive rating. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s trust rating on immigration is minus-37.
Sunder Katwala, the think-tank’s director and co-author of the report, said whoever took over from May they would start their term in office with a “major trust deficit on immigration”.
“People are fed up with the unkept promises and lack of accountability epitomised by the net migration target,” he said.
“The new prime minister must make a clean break and start to rebuild public confidence on immigration, setting out a new vision for immigration after Brexit.
“There is public consensus across our political and referendum tribes for a pragmatic approach that combines control with openness to the immigration that our economy needs.”
May stuck firmly to a pledge to reduce immigration to below 100,000. Johnson and Hunt have both indicated they would scrap the target – which the Conservative government has never managed to hit.
James Kirkup, director of the Social Market Foundation think tank and contributor to a new report on immigration published on Monday, said the next prime minister should “push to help immigrants become British citizens”.
He added: “Anyone who leads Britain needs to have an honest conversation about immigration, its challenges and its benefits.
“That means an end to simple, headline-chasing promises and a new focus on the needs of Britain’s employers, regions and communities.”
The report proposes replacing the net migration target with a three-year migration plan, which could include separate targets for different flows of migration, and which is reviewed each year.