The political perception that Scots are more tolerant of immigrants is “a myth”, according to a distinguished Jamaican-born academic.
Sir Geoff Palmer, professor emeritus at Heriot-Watt University’s school of life sciences in Edinburgh, said politicians should set out the facts about Britain’s attitude to immigrants regardless of the impact it may have on their own political careers.
He was reacting to a new BBC poll which found 49% of people in Scotland think the level of immigration to Britain should be reduced, exactly the same proportion as a poll conducted across Great Britain last year.
About one in seven (15%) Scots want immigration stopped completely compared with over a fifth (21%) across Great Britain, the YouGov poll of 1,100 Scottish adults conducted between March 4 and 6 found.
One in 20 said immigration should be increased, a similar proportion as the GB poll, while over a quarter (26%) said it should stay at the same level, compared with 20% across Great Britain.
The largest proportion of Scots think immigration has been mostly bad for Britain (38%), compared with 27% who said it was mostly good and 31% who said both good and bad.
Sir Geoff told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “You have the myth of the Scots being more tolerant than the English.”
He said the Scottish Government has been open about the need for more immigrants to balance the economic impact of an ageing population but “for political reasons” they have not tried to give a survey of the facts.
“I think politicians are worried about the fact that the British people, you know, are a bit sort of anti-foreigner and therefore they don’t want to talk about it,” he added.
“I think immigration and the attitude toward immigrants have improved, but I think the politicians or the civil servants that provide them with the figures or what to say are really balancing it against their political careers, and I think this should not be the case.”
He added: “I think people’s attitudes are based on the sort of information they are fed, and I think that it is the responsibility of politicians, whether they lose their seats or not, to actually tell the people what the situation is.”
He continued: “I remember when I was interviewed by Sir Keith Joseph in 1964 for a place to do research and he actually told me I should go back to the Caribbean and grow bananas.
“That sort of prejudice no longer exists, but if you want to know whether prejudice exists against immigrants per se just look around your office and see how many immigrants you have working next to you.”