Less than half of the British public think diversity is strength, a survey by the National Centre for Social Research has found. The Telegraph has more.

The National Centre for Social Research found 49% of the British public feel that diversity strengthens society, compared to 64% of Americans.

People in the UK are also more likely to have tougher attitudes on immigration, according to the research based on a survey of 2,000 people.

The findings show that a common narrative about Britain being more socially liberal than America does not ring true across all issues.

The National Centre for Social Research also found Reform UK voters were more likely to say immigrants living in their country without permission should not be allowed to stay than supporters of Donald Trump in the US.

While seven in 10 supporters of Mr Trump felt this way, the figure was almost eight in 10 (79%) among Reform followers.

The researchers said they wanted to “better understand how public attitudes in the UK compare with those in the US, and the extent of polarisation in the two countries”.

Their survey found 42% of people in the UK think there should be legal efforts to deport immigrants living here without permission, compared with just a third (33%) in the US.

When it came to how open their country is to people from around the world, 63% in the US felt this is essential to national identity but only 49% of people in the UK were like-minded.

Alex Scholes, research director at NatCen, said: “The idea that Britain is more socially liberal than America doesn’t hold up across all issues.

“While the UK is clearly more liberal on questions to do with family, sexuality and religion, attitudes to immigration and diversity show the opposite pattern.

“People in the UK are less likely than those in the US to see diversity as a strength, or to think that openness to people from other countries is essential to who we are as a nation. Our findings suggest that polarisation in the two countries looks very different.”

Worth reading in full.

This survey still doesn’t seem quite right. Just 42% think we should try to remove illegal immigrants? More than one in five (21%) Reform supporters don’t believe in deporting illegals? So I suspect it suffers from the usual biases of surveys. But that only makes the fact that pro-diversity comes out as a minority view more remarkable.