Facts on migrants key to cohesion – charity boss

Work to bring people together in Plymouth is "more needed than ever" six months after violent immigration-related protests, a local community group leader says.

David Feindouno is the founder of Plymouth Hope, a charity which runs events to strengthen bonds between people from different cultures.

It is one of 42 organisations awarded funding from Plymouth City Council's community recovery fund set-up to "address the public disorder that happened last summer".

Mr Feindouno said he hoped more information about who was coming to the country, and why, would help reduce tensions.

Home Office figures show there are far fewer asylum seekers being supported in the south-west of England than in other parts of the UK.

In the year ending September 2024, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset supported 1,177 asylum seekers, compared with the UK figure of 106,181.

It represents a rate of 42 per 100,000 people in the region, compared with 155 per 100,000 people across the UK.

Oxford University's Migration Observatory said figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed in the year to June 2024 about 40% of migrants from non-EU countries to the UK held a work visa, or were with their partner.

Dr Ben Brindle, a researcher at the observatory said that, in addition, many migrants on non-work visas could still work in the UK.

"International students can work for up to 20 hours a week and Ukrainians and other groups that have come on humanitarian visas can work as well", he said.

Many employers in the social care and hospitality sectors in the south west have said they remain dependent on migrant labour since Brexit.

"The health and care sector has been ever more important in the reasons that people are coming from overseas... as a result of high vacancies in the sector", Dr Brindle said.

The 2021 UK census showed the overall population of the south west grew in 20 years, but less than the England average, at 11% compared with 15%.

The proportion of people living in the south west who were born outside the UK also rose in that time, but again less than across England.

It rose from 4% in 2001 to 7% in 2021 in the south west, compared with 9% in 2001 and 17% in 2021 in England.

Mr Feindouno said immigration had become "more visible" since Brexit because workers from EU countries had been replaced with people born in African and Asian countries.

He said Plymouth Hope had been organising awareness-raising sessions for people with concerns about immigration.

"We get questions [such as]: 'Why are people here? Why can't they go to other countries?' and it boils down to people not knowing the reality. The confusion in people not knowing who's who."

He said people attending the sessions said they had noticed "more people in [their] child's primary school… and more people waiting at GP surgeries", but they had not always thought about the contribution many of those people were making as doctors, carers and in other parts of the workforce.

"People need to have those questions answered to bring them to a stage where they can actually say: 'Yeah, we can welcome people because we know why [they're] here,'" he said.

Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].