King's College London

This project set out to find out what members of the public think about work-related immigration once they have had time to hear evidence, question experts and weigh the trade-offs.

Between March and May 2026, 89 people took part in deliberative workshops in three local authority areas – North Tyneside, Leicester and Renfrewshire – chosen to reflect different levels of work-related immigration, with each group recruited to be representative of its area. Together they produced a set of agreed principles to guide the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee's scrutiny of government immigration policy.

King’s College London’s Policy Institute and Centre for British Democracy joined the project as partners to Demos and the House of Commons, with King’s expertise on deliberative methods informing the design and delivery of the workshops.

Each workshop developed and ranked a set of principles, and across the three workshops participants independently arrived at similar conclusions. Participants gave highest priority to training UK residents before relying on migrant labour, to ensuring local infrastructure could support local resident, and to long-term workforce planning.

The process changed participants too. Self-reported knowledge rose, 92% said they had changed their mind at least a little, and trust in other citizens to make good political decisions went from 45% to 58%.

A separate evaluation of the process, led by Newcastle University, is due at the beginning of 2027.