Immigrants must speak English to be 'truly British', say Brits

A majority of Britons believe EU immigrants should have to wait at least three years before being able to claim benefits, a survey has revealed.

The annual British Social Attitudes survey of 3,000 people found that 61percent wanted rules toughened in this way to deter so-called benefit tourism, the BBC reported.

Almost a quarter said the main reason immigrants came to the UK was benefits.

The report also found 95 percent thought people must speak English to be "truly British", up from 86 percent in 2003.

NatCen Social Research has been running the report for 31 years. Its survey assesses changing social attitudes in Britain.

The report's authors say a "key finding" of their latest work is that "the threshold to being considered British has got higher over time".

The proportion of people who say a person must have lived in Britain for most of their life to be considered British is now 77 percent, up from 69 percent in 2003.

The report found a falling proportion of people - 27 percent, down from 40 percent in 2003 - believed legal immigrants who were not British citizens should have the same rights as British citizens.

Some 74 percent said it was important to have been born in Britain to be considered British.