Welshness 'dilutes asylum fears'

The holding of asylum seekers at Cardiff prison sparked protests

People in Cardiff are the least likely to express fears that asylum seekers are eroding the British identity, according to new research.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) believes Cardiff's attitude could be down to a positive sense of Welsh identity.

The city's multi-cultural history and the Welsh assembly's stance were other contributing factors, researchers said.

Groups in Birmingham, Camden, Norwich, Weymouth were also questioned.

Regeneration

However, some Cardiff residents expressed anger at what they saw as the impact of asylum seekers on public services, jobs and crime.

There was also concern about the impact they thought detaining asylum seekers in Cardiff prison would have on Welsh prisoners.

Some people from Cardiff questioned for the research said they did not think asylum issues were very significant locally.

DEFINITIONS Asylum seeker - someone who has made a formal application for asylum and is awaiting a decision Refugee - someone who is granted permission to stay in the UK because of a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a social group Immigrant - someone who leaves their country of origin to settle permanently in another country, usually for economic reasons, eg someone with a work permit or the spouse of a British national

The research team said leadership from the Welsh assembly and pride in regeneration could be other factors in the positive response, as well as balance in the Welsh media in the way immigration issues are covered.

Miranda Lewis, senior research fellow for the IPPR project, agreed that the fact that Welsh people felt able to celebrate their national identity diluted fears about the impact immigrant communities might have.

"In all the other places we went to, groups we spoke to were very concerned that English identity was under threat and other minority groups were given help to celebrate their culture," she said.

"In Wales, that didn't come up as an issue and people we spoke to in Cardiff and around seemed very positive about the place they were living in, bouyant about Cardiff and the future."

'Welcome'

Ms Lewis said that Cardiff's long multi-cultural history was also "very important" to its positive attitude to immigration.

"People are just quite accepting of the fact that being Welsh doesn't equal being white," she added.

"You can be an Asian Welsh person or a Somali Welsh person.

Many people confuse refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants

"In the group, we had people from an ethnic minority living in Cardiff and they felt they were welcome.

"Particularly, the older people who had been living here some time or were born here felt racism had decreased over the years," said Ms Lewis.

Felina Moya, cofounder of the Zimbabwean Development Support Association, said: "Having lived in Cardiff for the past four years, I haven't seen any blatant racism myself, first as an asylum seekers and now as a refugee.

"There might be a few acts here and there but generally, when you look at the situation in Cardiff and Wales, I don't think anyone has an outright negative attitude to asylum seekers and refugees."

Across Britain as a whole, the project showed most people still believed the UK had a moral duty to protect refugees.

But it also found confusion between among the 32 focus groups as to the difference between asylum seekers, refugees, immigrants and those from settled ethnic minority communities.

The IPPR said it believed this was contributing to "extremely negative attitudes" to people seeking asylum and the asylum system.