Immigration is perceived as the most pressing political problem in Spain, as related problems begin to dent the popularity of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's Socialist government, according to an opinion poll released yesterday.

A majority of Spaniards disapproved of the government's handling of the latest immigration crisis, triggered by hundreds of hungry, desperate west Africans who this month stormed their way into Ceuta and Melilla, Spain's north African enclaves. The migrants are being repatriated to Morocco but anxiety about uncontrolled immigration is growing.