The latest British Social Attitudes report says there have been \u201cstrengthened demands\u201d for a reduction in the number of people settling in the country in recent years, coinciding with the biggest influx of migrants in history.<\/span><\/p>\n The hardening public attitudes were found most \u201cstrikingly\u201d among the less skilled and less skilled respondents to surveys.<\/span><\/p>\n Foreign labourers and overseas students with poor grades were seen as particularly unwelcome, the polls found.<\/span><\/p>\n It will be seen as a boost to the Government\u2019s plans to cut net migration \u2013 the number of people added to the population every year \u2013 from the current level of more than 200,000 to the \u201ctens of thousands\u201d by 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOur evidence suggests that the broad outlines of this approach are in line with public opinion \u2013 more than anything, what sways British voters in favour of migration is the perception that migrants are highly-qualified,\u201d said the authors, led by Robert Ford, a politics lecturer at the University of Manchester.<\/span><\/p>\n The report says that following the election of New Labour in 1997 and the passing of the Human Rights Act the following year, migration controls were \u201crelaxed\u201d and methods of restricting asylum were \u201climited\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This was followed by a \u201clarge wave\u201d of new arrivals from the eight Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004.<\/span><\/p>\n Analysis of survey responses taken over the past two decades shows there has been a \u201csustained increase in demands for lower overall immigration\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n In 1995, some 39 per cent of those questioned thought the number of immigrants should \u201creduce a lot\u201d, but by 2011 it had risen to 51 per cent. It peaked in 2008 at 55 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n The proportion of those who thought the economic impact of immigration was \u201cvery bad\u201d rose from 11 per cent in 2002 to 21 per cent a decade later, with far fewer remaining neutral on the topic.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition, the proportion who said the cultural effect of immigration was \u201cvery bad\u201d rose from 9 per cent to 21 per cent over the same period.<\/span><\/p>\n Just over a quarter of first- or second-generation migrants had negative views about the changes immigration has wrought on British society.<\/span><\/p>\n Detailed questioning showed that professionals and talented students were preferred, particularly by respondents who were themselves well-educated.<\/span><\/p>\n The authors concluded: \u201cThe flow of migrants into Britain over the past 15 years has been the largest in British history.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe public has reacted to this with strengthened demands for a reduction in migration and increasingly negatives views about the cultural and economic impact of migrants on Britain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile a separate poll has found that 70 per cent of people want a limit on the number of overseas students admitted to British colleges and universities.<\/span><\/p>\n The same proportion thought that those who understood little English should be removed from the country, and even more believed that foreigners who work when they are meant to be studying should be deported.<\/span><\/p>\n Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch UK, which commissioned the YouGov survey of 2,910 adults, said: \u201cThis gives the lie to those who have been claiming that the public are not concerned about student inflows.<\/span><\/p>\n