THE PAPERS, TV and radio say Britain is under siege from immigrants. They blame them for higher taxes, crime, housing shortages, hospital waiting lists, cheap labour and terrorism. During the Brexit campaign, and since, this has reached fever pitch.
There are two possible reasons for this. Only one of them can be true. The first is that immigrants really are responsible for most of Britain’s problems. The second is that you are being lied to – deliberately, day in, day out – about immigration.
Many people believe immigrants are one of our society’s biggest problems. No wonder. The scare stories printed every day in the Sun, Express, Star and Mail are hardly ever challenged.
That’s why we are setting out some facts that might make you see things differently, that immigrants are not causing these problems, but are being used as scapegoats.
If we’re right, then whoever is responsible for society’s problems is getting away scot-free. It’s the oldest trick in the book. Blame the other person. Divide and rule.
In Red Flag we’re fed up being lied to about why this is happening. Instead of accepting that we live in a “post-truth era”, let’s look at the truth.
Are immigrants “swamping” Britain?
There has been a significant increase in the number of immigrants in the UK over the past 15 years. But the numbers remain manageable. Just 13% (8.5 million) of British residents were born abroad and 5% (3 million) were born in the EU. In all, 3 million have become UK citizens, reducing the number of “foreigners” to under 9% (5.5 million).
Since most migrants are of working age, this inflow has in fact helped rebalance the UK’s otherwise ageing population. In short, immigrants tax and national insurance payments help our pensioners survive.
Isn’t Britain too full?
No. This would imply that either there is too little space for a growing population or that the economy cannot support the number of people here. Neither is true. Any long rail journey would give ample evidence that there is room for more towns and houses in the UK.
Our population is growing by 0.7% a year while official figures show the economy is growing by 2.3% a year. For each working age person in Britain, we create $42,000, the 22nd highest in the world. Recently, working people have not seen rising incomes because the Tories’ austerity policy has reduced workers’ incomes by increasing the amount going to profits and the banks.
Are immigrants draining Britain’s resources?
On the contrary, immigrants pay far more in taxes than they receive in benefits: £3 billion a year in, £500 million out; a net benefit to the UK of £2.5 billion. This is not surprising since the vast majority of migrants are fit and working. And this is far higher than the UK average.
Aren’t immigrants just on the make, taking advantage of our generous welfare?
University College London research shows that out of over 2 million EU citizens working in the UK, just 91,700 (4.5%) claim out-of-work benefits – the UK unemployment rate is 4.8%. Because a high proportion of migrants have degrees or other qualifications, only 317,000 (15%) claim tax credits, far lower than the UK average.
Don’t we take more than our fair share?
Migration naturally follows jobs and at the moment the UK has more jobs than most countries, so levels have risen. At the depth of the depression in 2012, net migration was half (177,000) what it is today, and would have fallen further had southern Europe not been in deeper crisis.
Asylum seekers are another matter. We are signed up to the Geneva Convention, which obliges us to accept refugees. But in fact Britain takes far less than its fair share.
For example, the number of Syrian refugees resettled in Britain stands at just 2,898 since the conflict began. There are over 4.8 million Syrian refugees. The Government has promised to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020, just 4,000 a year.
Does immigration cause unemployment?
There are 28 million UK nationals in work, a record 75%, compared to 3.4 million migrants (72%). British citizens still get most of the jobs on the market. In fact, a higher proportion of migrants than British-born workers start up businesses and employ other people.
Are they undercutting UK workers’ wages?
More than 60% of migrants from southern and western Europe, and 25% of those from eastern and central Europe, have university degrees (the UK average is 25%). Others have skills for which there is a shortage here. So they don’t compete with semi-skilled or low skilled workers and don’t drive down wages.
Among lower paid workers, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has found that, “The impact of migration on the wages of the UK-born in this sector since 2004 has been about 1 per cent, over a period of eight years”.
Jeremy Corbyn is committed to re-establishing the Migrant Impact Fund to help regions most affected cope with this pressure as well as restoring trade union rights, raising the minimum wage to the level of the independently assessed Living Wage, and increasing the number of inspectors chasing undercutting employers. The Tories and UKIP reject these real solutions because their priority is to support the bosses.
Surely they push our taxes up?
No. Migrants pay £2.5 billion a year more in taxes than they take out. UK-born citizens on average take more out than they pay in. So migration keeps taxes down, not up.
Don’t migrants cause crime?
The Association of Chief Police Officers has found that crime figures have fallen over the same period that immigration numbers have risen. In 2013, the London School of Economics concluded that crime, especially burglary, vandalism and car theft actually fell in those areas most affected by immigration from eastern Europe.
On the other hand, hate crime against migrants in England and Wales rose by 41% in the month after the EU referendum. Migrants don’t cause crime; anti-immigrant racists do.
What about their attitude to women’s and LGBT rights?
Migrants live among and work with workers from all nationalities and cultures. Sexist, homophobic and racist views are regularly challenged… and over time changed. Their children who go to school and university are great transmitters of progressive and tolerant attitudes to their parents.
Nevertheless, welcoming migrants has nothing to do with turning a blind eye to sexist and anti-minority behaviour and crime. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has no legitimate place in the UK or anywhere else in the world. But migration, if anything, can help to strengthen campaigns to oppose and eliminate it.
Surely there’s not enough housing to go round?
Migrants are not jumping the queue for social housing. Government figures reveal that 91% of all new social housing lets go to UK-born residents. The Oxford Migration Observatory says that 39% of migrants live in private rented accommodation, as opposed to 14% of British-born people. They also tend to suffer more from overcrowded accommodation.
The real culprit for the lack of affordable housing is the government, which constantly widens the net for right-to-buy and diminishes the available housing for new tenants, and stubbornly refuses to build enough social housing: just 25,000 a year while between 1.5 and 2 million need to be housed. Some councils have extended the time needed to qualify as a resident to get on the waiting list, which disproportionately affects migrants.
Aren’t they draining resources from the NHS and adding to the waiting lists?
Again, the real reason why the NHS is in crisis, hospitals and A&E units are closing and waiting lists are growing, is government cuts. NHS Trusts are now £2.45 billion in deficit and this is translating into cuts in service.
The main drivers of increased costs are new technology and treatments (£1.4 billion), inflation and wages (£2.8 billion) and an ageing British population (£1.2 billion). And, of course, there is the inestimable contribution migrant staff have made to the NHS, many trained at the expense of their native countries.
Aren’t non-English speakers holding our children back in school?
There is no evidence of this. School students tend to pick up English very quickly and also help educate their parents. London schools, where there is the largest number and widest variety of non-English speaking students, are also the most improved state schools in the country.
Isn’t this a way for terrorists to enter the country?
Possibly, of course, but the facts point to the main terrorist threat coming from British-born Muslims (or converts) who have been radicalised, like Lee Rigby’s killers, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, or shoe bomber Richard Reid.
The Islamophobic campaign to demonise the UK’s 2.7 million Muslims is both wrongly directed and counterproductive. Britain’s terrible invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq are the main reasons for the UK being targeted by ISIS and al-Qaida, while the singling out of Muslims for suspicion and surveillance isolates their communities and helps radicalise some of the more desperate of their youth.
It’s not racist to be concerned about immigration
The point here is that if immigration is accepted as a problem, then immigrant populations are an expression of that problem – and who is most easily identified as an “immigrant”? Those who are not white or who dress differently or speak a foreign language. That is the connection to racism and why anti-immigrant propaganda encourages abuse and discrimination not only against immigrants but also non-white Britons. The wave of racist attacks after the EU referendum is just the latest example of this.
You can be anti-immigration without being anti-immigrants
Some people draw a parallel between unemployment and immigration. Both are wrong they say, but that does not make us anti-unemployed or anti-immigrants. This is a false comparison and a dangerous one. Generally, people are unemployed against their will, whereas immigrants choose to leave their countries of origin to seek a better life. For socialists, that is their right, everybody’s right, and to deny it is to support the division of the world between a few rich countries and far more poor ones. The danger is that this argument legitimises opposition to immigration, it avoids the socialist argument for open borders.
Shouldn’t we concentrate on standing up for the rights of workers who already live here?
UKIP present this argument as if a choice has to be made, but that is totally wrong. What is more, Ukip’s programme would get rid of all workers’ legal rights on weekly working hours, overtime, redundancy, sick pay, pensions, employers’ national insurance obligations and the legal right to four weeks’ paid holiday. The Tories also envisage a bonfire of protective legislation in their Great Repeal Bill.
Workers’ rights can only really be protected by a Labour government committed to lifting the rights of all workers and by trade unions fighting to defend and extend our gains by collective action against unscrupulous employers.
Aren’t many of them illegal?
Some may well be, but this helps to create the “grey economy”, in which employers avoid tax and wages are undercut. That is why we support an amnesty for all migrants. In any case, the figures reproduced here show the real benefits of all migration, legal or not.
Isn’t the Brexit referendum a mandate for tougher immigration controls?
No. There was only the single question on whether the UK should leave the EU, not on what our immigration policy should be. In fact many would have voted Leave on the basis of staying in the single market. Labour could and should resist any attempt to weaken freedom of movement in the wake of this result.
Won’t immigrants dilute our national culture?
Surely the opposite of this is true? Immigrants enrich our national culture. There have always been those who whip up hysteria about newcomers. In the 19th Century, it was the Irish, in the early 20th Century the Jews, after World War II the Indians, Pakistanis and Jamaicans. Now it is east Europeans and Africans.
But who really does not now appreciate the cultural contribution of these previous waves of immigrants to our country, be it the national dish of curry or reggae music? We have to face down those racists who despise people because of their diet, dress or dialect… just like anti-racists did in previous generations.
Should those who come be obliged to assimilate?
This is the current policy of the Labour right wing and has informed the actions of previous administrations and today’s Tory government. But it does not work; on the contrary it will push minorities out of public life and into ghettos (which, thankfully, do not exist yet in the UK).
Why should new immigrants “assimilate” into a country that demonises their religion, accepts the right of racists to march through their towns and opens the way for violent attacks and abuse? The best and only way to truly integrate migrant communities is to combat racism and open the doors of the labour movement to them.
Why are they lying?
The people who benefit from the anti-migrant campaign are the same people who benefit from the real causes of bad housing, long hospital waiting lists and declining education. It is the big bosses – the millionaire, even billionaire, financiers and industrialists – and the right wing parties that support them – the Tories and UKIP – who want to pay less and less tax, while forcing austerity on the rest of us.
So what can we do?
We can support Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and trade union leaders, insofar as, and so long as, they defend the right to free movement of labour, safe passage for asylum seekers and the abolition of racist immigration controls.
And probably more important than this even, we can raise these issues with our neighbours, family, friends and workmates – “conversation by conversation”, as Abbott puts it. We have fought racism before, in the 1970s and 1980s for example, and won. We can do so again.
All facts and figures from the UK government, United Nations or World Bank unless otherwise stated
