Monday 20th October

Immigration is the new buzz-word, all politicians say they “get it”.  But what they will not say, even nice Mr. Farage, is that when the public talk about “immigration” being a concern, what they really mean is “We don’t want foreigners here” – a maybe slightly more restrained version of “Blacks Go Home”.   In fact of course, immigration has been brilliant for this country.  Ask any farmer who cannot get English people to pick fruit, ask any Restaurant owner who despite all the glossy foodie programmes on telly cannot get English people to work in a hot kitchen or wait at tables, ask any NHS manager who needs nurses or junior doctors or ward cleaners – and they will all tell you that without immigrants the system would collapse and businesses be forced to close.

The current “lie” is that Labour allowed too many Eastern Europeans into the country in the ‘noughties’.  Of course they didn’t, the rules of the EU allow free movement of people and capital.  The fact that some other countries slowed this inward migration by transitional arrangements meant that we boomed, businesses grew faster and everyone benefited precisely because of this influx of immigrants.  The truth is that most immigrants from Europe are young (it is only us Brits in our retirement who want to live in France or Spain where we will inevitably cost their health services money as we age); the vast majority work and pay taxes but do not use the NHS much or have children to be educated or retire here and least of all claim benefits.  They are in short net contributors to the nation’s wealth.   There may well be problems with tax avoidance or benefit fraud but this is just as endemic in the ‘born-here-population’ as in any visitors and should be addressed without scape-goating immigrants.

So, counter to the current view, let’s raise a glass to all people who choose to come and work and live in Britain.  The waves of Jews, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangla-Deshis and West Indians and now Eastern Europeans have all added to the wealth and diversity of this truly cosmopolitan country and have made Britain one of best countries to live in.