The UK has seen a sharp rise in asylum applications since the Covid-19 pandemic. This column examines how exposure to asylum seekers affects voter behaviour. The authors find that increases in dispersed asylum seekers – who are provided with accommodation but cannot choose their destination – lead to a sizeable rightward shift in local election outcomes. While migration has become more salient for both of the UK’s main political parties, only Conservative MPs appear to effectively channel local discontent, helping explain why these rightward electoral shifts occur despite little observable change in public attitudes.

L'intesa con l'Albania e gli altri accordi che non funzionano ('The arrangement with Albania and other agreements that don't work') - an article by Francesco Fasani and Tommaso Frattini on the effects...