Less Is More: Immigration and European Integration at the 2010 General Election

Abstract

What impact did immigration and European integration have on the 2010 general election campaign and result? We explain why immigration was a salient campaign issue, while European integration barely figured. We show that the Conservatives learned to speak less about European integration and immigration as part of their re-evaluation of campaign strategy following three successive defeats. For different reasons, Labour were not keen to talk about immigration. Labour were in fact damaged by perceptions that they had lost control of immigration. We also explain why both the UK Independence Party and the British National Party failed to make the election breakthrough that some had foreseen following their relative successes in the 2009 European Parliament election.