Most Britons want immigration cut by 80 percent: YouGov poll

London, May 20 (ANI): Seven in 10 Britons would like immigration slashed by 80 percent, a recent survey has concluded.

The YouGov poll, which was commissioned by Migrationwatch for the Cross Party Group on Balanced Migration, found that majority of the public want net migration to be cut down to less than 50,000 people a year.

Just one in 20 adults supports the current levels of immigration, it said.

Currently, the total number of immigrants is 237,000 a year, The Telegraph reports.

In 2008, National Statistician Karen Dunnell had said that net immigration would have to be cut by 80 per cent if government wants to keep the population below 70 million - thought to be a sustainable level.

The balance of those settling in the country over those leaving would have to be cut to 50,000 a year, he had said.

Around 80 per cent of adults are "concerned" or "very concerned" about immigration in the UK, the YouGov poll found.

"This poll shows the public's concern about immigration is very widely felt and the demand for change very strong indeed," the co-chairmen of the cross party group, Labour MP Frank Field and Tory MP Nicholas Soames, said in a joint statement.

"The issue must no longer be swept under the carpet at Westminster. If mainstream parties do not tackle these issues, the extremist parties will. Silence and inaction on immigration are the recruiting sergeants for the BNP," they added.

A February poll had showed that one in nine people living in Britain was born on foreign land.

It also showed that the number of short-term migrants, coming to work or study for less than 12 months, was down 13 per cent but the number of people applying for asylum rose sharply. (ANI)