■ Lord Ashcroft op-ed: The one thing on immigration we all know is true

JUST one in six Britons believes immigration has benefited the country, according to one of the biggest studies conducted on the subject.

The poll of more than 20,000 people, commissioned by Lord Ashcroft, the former Conservative party deputy chairman, found that 60% of people thought immigration, on balance, had brought more disadvantages than advantages to Britain, with just 17% believing the opposite.

David Cameron has pledged to reduce net migration from non-EU countries to less than 100,000 a year by 2015, but Ashcroft’s research shows politicians have comprehensively failed to win the public’s confidence that they are bringing immigration under control.

Respondents were shown a list of nine suggested measures to