UNITE: Cameron should prioritise people's real concerns

Thursday, 14 April 2011 12:00 AM

An ongoing independent poll of 143,000 working people being conducted for Unite, Britain's biggest union, shows that immigration is in fact ranked last as an issue of concern with working people's top worries being money problems, the rising cost of living, cuts to public services, stress, education and housing.

Tens of thousands of responses have been analysed and ranked by independent polling company Mass1, which reports that the ten concerns for workers are:

1. Money worries
2 Cuts to council services and NHS services
3. Rising cost of living
4. Stress
5. Education
6. Housing
7 Job security
8. Coalition government
9. Defence
10. Immigration

Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey, said:

"David Cameron is stoking up fears over immigration to divert attention away from people's real fears about the economy and public services to give his government some cover ahead of the council elections.

"Tens of thousands of working people surveyed for Unite show that their main worries can be traced back to the impact the government's economic policies are having on this country. Working people are worried because they are struggling to make ends meet, they are seeing the cost of food and fuel going up, while their public services are being cut.

"Immigration is in fact ranked last as a concern with the coalition government ranked as a greater threat to people's living standards."

The poll is based on responses from some 143,000 people, not all Unite members polled by Mass1, an independent research organisation. The respondents are spread across the population centres of the UK. The trends have emerged during an ongoing polling exercise that began in December 2010.

ENDS

Contact: Ciaran Naidoo on 07768 931 315

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