'Four in 10 whites don't want Asians as neighbours'

Four out of 10 white people do not want an Asian or black Briton as their neighbour, according to a survey.

The opinion poll conducted by MORI found increasing concern about immigration and asylum combined with ignorance about basic facts about the issue and growing resentment.

The MORI survey for Prospect magazine found that 39 per cent of those asked would prefer to live in an area only with people from the same ethnic background.

Forty-one per cent of Whites and 26 per cent of ethnic minority people surveyed wanted the races to live separately. Over half of all ethnic groups wanted to live in diverse areas.

The poll found older people were most in favour of living apart from other races. Only 40 per cent of people over 55 disagreed with the idea, compared with 64 per cent of 16 to 34-year-olds.

Bobby Duffy, research director at MORI, said: "We have overestimated the progress we have made in race and immigration issues. I'm surprised about such a high finding as people are usually reticent because they worry about being judged by the interviewer, so this finding is worrying."

The poll shows that the issue of race and immigration has risen up the list of people's concerns, and is now the third most important, ahead of crime, defence and the economy.

The issue is ranked the most important by 29 per cent, behind education (33 per cent) and National Health Service (41 per cent). Ten years ago the figure was below 10 per cent.

MORI said people had an "inflated view of the scale of the issue", with people overestimating the numbers of first generation immigrants by four times the actual amount.

Britons think that first generation immigrants comprise 23 per cent of the population, while the real figure is six per cent. "It's a monumental shift in people's concerns," Duffy said.

"We've seen economic concerns decline and that seems set to continue, and a rise in concern about public services. The issue of race and immigration threatens to dwarf others."

The survey also exposed simmering resentments felt by a large section of those surveyed, with nearly half believing that other people were unfairly getting priority over them in public services and welfare payments.

Of the 45 per cent who believe the welfare state treats them as second-class citizens, 39 per cent blame asylum seekers and new immigrants.

Surveys 10 years ago showed anxiety about "freeloading" by lone parents and the unemployed, but now asylum seekers are the focus of resentment.

Among lower socio-economic classes the feeling they are losing out rises above 50 per cent. One in five people believe that immigrants should get less welfare provisions than British citizens, though there is a marked class difference.

Just 12 per cent of the top two socio-economic groups support less welfare for immigrants compared to 29 per cent of the lowest two socio-economic groups. This is the group most likely to need welfare and most likely to read rightwing newspapers which have been accused of running a scare mongering campaign against asylum seekers and new immigrants.

The results echo the findings of a poll last year by MORI for the commission for racial equality: one-third of white respondents said they did not mix with ethnic minority people at work, and nearly two-thirds did not meet socially.