Framing the UK Immigration Debate

Immigration has become one of the most highly charged political issues in Europe, and the information about immigration as presented in mass media is often conflicting and potentially confusing. This paper investigates whether elites have the power to ‘frame’ the immigration debate in the UK, where immigration in the modern day is often at the top of citizens’ list of concerns, for instance, in Ipsos Mori polls. Using a survey-based experiment, the paper examines the effect of positive and negative immigration frames attributed to seemingly credible non-partisan elites on attitudes to immigrants and immigration policy. The findings indicate that—as argued in existing framing research—the potential effects of framing are different, depending on the individual’s level of political sophistication. Namely, those with low levels of political knowledge tend to be more likely to accept negative messages about immigration. Those with higher levels of political knowledge, however, appear to resist negative messages about immigration, and are more positive about immigration. At the same time, individuals with higher levels of political sophistication appear to be more accepting of the positive messages about immigration. The implications of these findings for the ability of elites to frame the immigration debate in the UK are discussed in the paper’s conclusion.