Britons’ fear of migration is not only misplaced - it distracts us from bigger issues
I recently attended an event organised by the Foreign Policy Centre in partnership with the European Commission’s representation in the UK. The title could hardly be more topical: ‘Examining the EU’s democratic legitimacy.’
It really was about Brexit, like nearly every political debate in the UK for months if not years.
Hilary Benn MP delivered an eloquent keynote speech about the need of parliamentary oversight of the divorce process.
After him, other articulate voices from both chambers expressed their thoughts about the value of democracy, the history of Britain in Europe and the meaning of national and parliamentary sovereignty.
Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and SNP had at least one voice in the panel; so did UKIP with its only MP (to Nigel Farage’s eternal sorrow), Douglas Carswell.
Judging by the interventions during the Q&A, had the referendum been held only in that room, Britain would have never chosen to leave; in fact, Conservatives would probably be a marginal force.
‘How did we get to this point?’ an incredulous audience asked with different words and tones.
‘It’s immigration, stupid!’ The recurrent hypothesis was unsurprisingly put forward by Carswell. It went unchallenged. It sinks in. It stays. And it stains.
Immigration is constantly portrayed as the source of many problems despite the lack of evidence. Immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits.
They (we) contribute to support the welfare state in this country, not to speak of the number of professionals that work in the NHS and other essential public services and in the private sector.
Research shows that immigrants from both EU-15 and eastern Europe give to society more than they receive from the state. Similar phenomena are noticeable in many other rich countries.
The fear of migration is not supported by a simple reality check, but someone could counterattack along these lines:
‘The overall economy and even public finances may benefit from it, but disenfranchised working class people in post industrial constituencies are paying the price.’
I would take this point seriously: Not everyone benefits equally from free trade and freedom of movement. But the connection between rising inequality and the desire to control national borders is not as self-evident as some are succeeding in making us believe.
Latest available EU statistics from 2015 indicate that 13 per cent of inhabitants in the UK are foreign-born. Other countries have a higher share: Ireland (16.2 per cent), Austria (17.2 per cent) or Sweden (16.4 per cent).
Still, according to a recent poll by Ipsos Mori, Britain remains the country where immigration is reported as the most significant worry: It is so for 42 per cent of the people. Germany goes second with 41 per cent and Sweden third with 33 per cent.
But let’s take my home country as a point of reference: Spain. The number of foreign-born inhabitants lies at 12.7 per cent, not far behind the UK. However, immigration is the most unsettling issue only for nine per cent of the population.
We are talking about a country where about 20 per cent of working age people are unemployed (it reached 25 per cent in the worst years of the financial crisis), and a society that only one generation ago barely knew what foreign nationals looked like, apart from pictures of blond blue-eyed northern Europeans on the Mediterranean coastline.
Unscrupulous media groups and wily politicians have fruitfully spread the rumour that foreigners are to blame for the misfortunes of working people. This exercise of cheap scaremongering is proving very appealing.
There is an urgent need for a counter-narrative to set the record straight. The political class in this country is greatly responsible for the unfounded and disproportionate level of fear of foreigners.
While some keep banging on about it with impunity, others remain silent and refuse to challenge their views in public.
Poverty and social inequality is only the fourth worst worry for the British public (29 per cent). Foreigners are easy scapegoats, but this country needs to start hitting the right nail soon.
Koldo Casla is a PhD candidate in European and International Studies at King’s College London, and a Policy officer at Just Fair. He writes in a personal capacity.
See: Other countries don’t worry this much about immigration – why does Britain?
See: Six weirdest things David ‘refugees’ teeth’ Davies MP has ever said (that we know of)
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11 Responses to “Foreigners are easy scapegoats, but bashing them won’t fix our real problems”
Chester Draws
You can dislike large scale immigration without hating foreigners. I dislike cold coffee, so I avoid it, but it’s not an emotional response.
And the biggest issue is housing. The UK has a severe housing shortage in spots. Adding more people is not helping at all.
Spain has an over-supply of housing, so immigration doesn’t affect it. It also has stubbornly high unemployment. I wonder why?
Mick
Lefties say the answer’s to build more housing. But that will only alleviate the problems felt by those already here, never mind the babies to come.
Also, if we leave it to Labour – whichever brand biting and scratching for dominance – we’d only get building on flood plains anyway, or over old reservoirs which cause droughts. It happened last time. They really do cherry-pick the worst, don’t they!
Anon
My city has, under plans arrived at when a Labour government was in power, increased its population by a quarter. Whilst those on the oft-described ‘liberal left’ lecture us incessantly on the environment, our parks and many open, green spaces are under threat to suit something called GDP.
Mass immigration has not only set about destroying the freedoms that we have taken for granted, but is also destroying our beautiful country.
Why? Who is it for? Who in this country benefits? And what are we supposed to do – just roll over and die?
CR
Uncontrolled immigration is the root cause of:
Over demand for school places
Over demand for NHS services and over spending by NHS Trusts
Over demand for Local Authority services
Over demand for housing
Keeping British workers wages low
Keeping British workers rights at a minimum
Increased social & cultural costs
Mike Stallard
Immigrants are not some sort of blob.
Immigrants are actually human beings.
So?
There is all the difference in the world between Maria (the Roma girl of 13 who is going out – and living in the street too – with a man in his forties) and Julia, the daughter of two Lithuanians, both working class people now and both in work, who is determined to better herself by going to international school in USA when she finishes her GCSEs in the local Comp.
It doesn’t not take Einstein to work out that one is a benefit the other a liability and that if we let lots and lots of liabilities in we are going to have to do without the NHS, the Comprehensive system for all children and a massive increase in taxes. Down here we fell immigration as a burden. And that is because it is: lots of factories demand Lithuanian or Polish, for example. There is a ton of new crime here too. And (probably) some slavery of men and women.
But not all immigrants are liabilities. That is simply ridiculous.