On immigration, the The Tories should stop following and start leading

Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London, delivers a warning to the Conservative Party about the likely effects of an increasingly reactive policy on immigration. A day or two before David Cameron made his long-awaited ' big speech ' on immigration, Nick Clegg warned him not to float plans that would see 'the British people..plunged into a cycle of wild overpromising and inevitable disappointment, their scepticism confirmed.' That Clegg had a point should surprise no-one. After all, when it comes to 'wild overpromising' leading to 'inevitable disappointment' which confirms people's scepticism, he is something of a past master. But although the Prime Minister stepped back from the brink, dropping all talk of entry quotas on EU citizens, it is difficult to escape the feeling that the Conservative Party is increasingly locked into just the kind of cycle that the Deputy Prime Minister described. If that is the case, then, sadly, the Tories have no-one to blame but themselves. True, research suggests that public anxiety about immigration has increased as the numbers entering the UK have risen. But it also suggests that they take their cues not just from the media but from politicians, especially when, as with immigration, the impact of an issue is largely indirect rather than personal.