Why do French people prefer to live in the UK?

London, 23 July 2007. In the first ever independent poll of French voters living in the UK, GfK NOP interviewed over 1,000 people after they voted at the second round of the Presidential election in London on 6 May, in a quest to find out what values drive this growing community, and why they have chosen to live in the UK, not France.

Broadly, French nationals living in London think that the economy and work practices of Britain are better run than in France, but that French society is better organised and more agreeable than British society.

A total of 79% of all respondents had a preference for the British way of running the economy against just 8% who preferred the French system. Similarly, 94% said that professional opportunities were greater in Britain than in France, and 86% that the British spirit of enterprise was preferable. They also favoured British work ethics and corporate culture.

In contrast, 67% believe that the quality of life in France is better than in Britain, with a huge 89% preferring the French health system to the NHS and 81% thinking French social security is better than British. French primary and secondary schools are preferred by an average of 62% of respondents, but the British Universities system is preferred by 43% against 40 % for the French system.

The outstanding point on which Left and Right differ is globalisation, although both sides prefer the British approach to the French. However, only 6% of Sarkozy supporters think that the French position on globalisation is better than the British, while, for Royal supporters, this rises to 30%.

Supporters of both candidates agree that British immigration policy is preferable to the French – 67% of all voters – but in the case of the EU 59% prefer the French policy to the British.

Likelihood of going to live in France

While 28% of the voters say that they would become more likely to return to France if Sarkozy was elected, this figure falls to 14% if Royal were to become President. Nearly half of Sarkozy voters declared they would be more likely to go back to France if their candidate was elected.