Restrictive conditions have made it harder for those legally resident to commit to British society
Since the introduction of the concept by then-Labour home secretary Roy Jenkins in the mid-1960s, integration has never been a priority for UK governments. The anti-racist movement and black communities have been suspicious of the term, seeing it as too close to assimilation.
Integration has had little traction on the right either, where there has been distrust for any accommodation with migrants and minorities. Labour started talking about integration under Blair, but usually as a footnote to cohesion or in relation to refugees.
The Coalition government launched an integration strategy in 2012, but it mainly argued that national government needed to leave it to local governments.
In a time when net migration remains high and has transformed the demographic profile of every region of the UK, when we see persistent gaps in health or employment outcomes for some ethnic groups, when concerns about de facto segregation continue, and when politicians talk about particular minorities ‘quietly condoning’ non-British values – is it time to put integration back on the policy agenda?
The 2015 edition of MIPEX, the Migrant Integration Policy Index, is published today. It measures policy commitment to integration in 38 developed countries.
The timing of this might help us re-frame the integration debate in the UK. The last edition of the index was published in 2010, in the final months of the Brown government, so the new edition offers a timely assessment of the changes made in the Cameron/Clegg half-decade.
The headline is that the UK has fallen from the top 10 to mid-table 15. We have dropped points in areas where we perform strongly, such as education and anti-discrimination, because of austerity-driven cuts.
While there are schools across the country being confronted for the first time with children who don’t speak English at home, the funding which supports them to do this (the EMAG grant) is no longer ring-fenced.
While the gap between mainstream and minority employment is bigger than ever, the requirements to enforce equality law are being loosened and seen as excess red tape.
We have lost points too for the indicators relating to routes to settlement and to citizenship, as restrictive conditions brought in to help meet the net migration target have made it harder for those legally resident to commit to British society.
Most dramatically, we have fallen to the very bottom of the table for family migration, meaning we are the hardest place in the developed world for separated families to reunite; we have the most restrictive definitions and stringent requirements, long delays and high costs.
Separated non-European families are now less likely to reunite in the UK than on average in Western Europe, with numbers falling by 20 per cent after the UK imposed one of the highest income requirements for family reunion in the world, one which 50 per cent of working people in the UK could not afford.
The MIPEX index does not measure integration itself. It measures how favourable a country’s policies are to the level playing field that would make integration possible.
This approach has limits, and a resetting of the integration debate would need to look at other measures too: how social integration and a shared sense of belonging can be promoted, for instance.
But the results of the new index show just how far integration has fallen down the policy agenda in the drive to reduce migration and cut costs. Can we afford to let it keep slipping?
Ben Gidley is a senior researcher at COMPAS. Follow him on Twitter
36 Responses to “It’s time to put integration back on the agenda”
swat
We have to be honest and start naming names, and forget about stigmatising certain communities, For example the Somali Community and many of the newish arrivals from N Africa have not integrated that well as well as many Pakistani and Bangladeshis from rural communities and lower socio-economic backgrounds. We also have to be honest and say that one of the common factors preventing better integration is Islam.
So the ball is firmly back in the Muslim Community to sort themselves out. Others can’t do it for them.
AnneGFuqua
Extra-time working I looked at the draft which said $9958@mk7
f.
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stevep
Ah, the hypocrisy of it all:
Enjoy a beautifully prepared Bangladeshi curry, Chinese chop suey, American fried chicken, Turkish kebab, Italian Expresso etc.when the mood suits, belittle and abuse their contribution to our society when it doesn`t.
Express outrage at poor Somali or Libyan migrants seeking to escape repressive regimes, but hero worship the latest multi-millionaire Argentinian, Portuguese or Brazilian football player gracing these shores with his presence.
Go into SunMail-induced apoplectic fits over the net cost of foreigners coming to live and work here, but wilfully ignore the amount of wealth foreign companies make here and take out of Britain.
Claim there will be no more room in Britain if more migrants choose to settle here, whilst ignoring the sheer amount of land in the UK owned by wealthy foreigners, particularly in Scotland.
The truth of the matter is that migrants have always come to Britain throughout history: Polish, Romans, Normans, Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, French, Spanish, American, Canadian, Estonian, Pakistani, etc. etc. and they all brought their own traditions with them and made Britain what it is today, a vibrant, multicultural society.
Can people not see past the SunMail brainwashing and agitation of the last few years designed to divert attention away from far more important matters ( The Banks, Corporate greed, Democracy etc.) and realise that Britain is comprised of more than just White Anglo-Saxons and that these people and cultures have contributed positively to the UK more than we can possibly imagine.
JoeDM
If immigrants refuse to integrate into the normal British way of life then they should have to leave.
steroflex
Yes – up to a point I agree.
The problem is the communities that are determined not to fit in at all because THEY KNOW BEST.
I refer to the polygamous Muslim families whose social pattern is deliberately different from our own.
I refer also to the African families who, also, have polygamous traditions and who provide a deep well of men who can, honestly, only be described as sperm donors. Of course this is a minority – the Archbishop of York is not included here!
Do you personally live in a Muslim ghetto? Or in a Blacks Only area of London?
Me, I live in an area which has become pretty well East European and I love it!