Significantly, attitudes have also hardened even among those from immigrant
families themselves with less than half now convinced that it is good for
the economy and a quarter doubting the cultural benefits.

The findings came as Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, underlined divisions
with the Coalition over immigration insisting that the Government “certainly
won’t achieve” its target of getting numbers below 100,000 before the
General Election next year.

Speaking in a BBC documentary, The Truth About Immigration, he described the
cap, a flagship Conservative policy, as “not sensible”.

In the same programme, Jack Straw, the former Home Secretary, described
Labour’s estimates of migrant numbers ahead of the main eastward expansion
of the EU in 2004 as “completely catastrophic”.

And David Blunkett, his successor, admitted that the Blair government had not
spelt out likely the full impact because of a “fear of racism”.

Nick Robinson, the BBC’s political editor, who presents the programme, said at
the weekend that the corporation had made a “terrible mistake” in
downplaying public concerns over immigration.

The study of more than 3,000 people found that 77 per cent want immigration
reduced, with only four per cent favouring an increase.

Fifty six per cent support reducing it “a lot” – a record level. In 1995, when
the question was first asked, only 39 per cent supported major reductions
and two years ago only 51 per cent did.

Although the number of people believing that immigration benefits the economy
is marginally higher than two years ago, it is still a view held by less
than a third of Britons, compared with almost half who see it as harmful.

Only one in three Britons believe immigration enriches Britain culturally,
against 45 per cent who think it is detrimental.

Significantly, 54 per cent of those who see immigration as good for the
economy still want to reduce it, including a quarter who would support
severe reductions. Among those who see immigration as culturally beneficial,
55 per cent now support curbs.

Penny Young, chief executive of NatCen Social research, which conducted the
study, said other issues not specifically covered by the questions – such as
pressure on the NHS or housing – could be at work.

“Reducing immigration is technically about stopping more immigrants coming to
Britain so it may well be that people have got to the point where they think
that we are ‘full’,” she said.

“They may think that it has been good for the economy or culturally but that
if it carries on it may have a problematic effect.”

Strikingly, the proportion of first or second generation immigrants who
believe migration is good for the economy has slipped below half in the last
two years. A quarter of migrants now even doubt that it immigration is even
benefiting Britain culturally.

When responses were analysed along class lines, one of the most notable
findings is that only a third of those in the top earnings bracket see
immigration as bad for the economy compared with around half of those in the
middle.

David Cameron has pledged to reduce net migration to the “tens of
thousands” rather than hundreds of thousands . But figures published in
November show it rose markedly ni the last year and now stands at 182,000.

Aked whether he thought the target was realistic, Mr Cable said: “It’s
not sensible to have an arbitrary cap because most of the things under it
can’t be controlled.

“So it involves British people emigrating – you can’t control that. It
involves free movement within the European Union – in and out. It involves
British people coming back from overseas, who are not immigrants but who are
counted in the numbers. So setting an arbitrary cap is not helpful, it
almost certainly won’t achieve the below 100,000 level the Conservatives
have set anyway, so let’s be practical about it.”

Asked whether it was “nonsense”, he said: “The idea it should
come down to 100,000 is something the Liberal Democrats have never signed up
to because we simply regard it as impractical.”

Immigration is expected to dominate the agenda in the lead up to the European
elections later this year and a General Election next year.

While the UK Independence Party is expected to take votes from the
Conservatives over the issue, the study shows that Labour voters are the
most sharply divided over immigration.

Similar proportions of Labour voters – roughly four out of 10 – see
immigration as helping or harming the economy and Britain’s cultural life.

Government estimates a decade ago were that around 13,000 people from Eastern
European member states would come to Britain a year. According to the ONS
there are now just over a million people from Poland and the seven other
countries which joined the EU in 2004 living in the UK.

“The predications were completely catastrophic,” Mr Straw told the programme.

“I mean they were wrong by a factor of 10.

“On immigration, it was bluntly a nightmare and it got more and more
difficult”

Mr Blunkett addeds that the Treasury was convinced that the economic benefits
would outweigh the disadvantages.

“We didn’t spell out in words of one syllable what was happening, partly
because of a fear of racism” he said.