Among defenders of immigration there is a reluctance to confront the prospect of mass, popular racism. Most Britons have been hostile to immigration for decades, long before the waves of EU migration in the last decade. What has changed now is the political salience of this hostility.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/14/why-hostility-immigrants-uk-racism
Against Racisms in Ireland 