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Migrants and asylum seekers are looking like the big losers in the upcoming elections

The political lines have been drawn: immigration and asylum will the battleground for the upcoming election.

Recently, Tory leader Michael Howard announced his plans to limit the number of migrants and asylum seekers that he would allow into the country if he ever gained power. He promised to introduce an Australian-style work permit system and a set quota of 20,000 asylum seekers per year.

In a knee jerk reaction, the government announced a raft of proposals to woo voters.

Among the plans revealed last week, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said that the government would introduce a points system for those seeking a better economic life in the UK.

LOWER-SKILLED

Those with academic qualifications will be allowed to settle in the UK with their families after they have passed an English language and citizenship test. Lower-skilled migrants, however, will be stopped from bringing their families to join them, barred from claiming benefits and be expected to leave after five years.

Clarke also admitted that his government would look to focus on low-skilled migrants from within the EU, effectively eliminating the need for low-skilled migrants from outside of the EU.

“We believe that the labour available from EU member states – old and new – should, over time, meet our national needs for low-skilled work. Therefore, in consultation with the industries and over time, we intend to phase out the current low-skilled quota schemes,” said Clarke.

Clarke also admitted that foreign nationals would be the first to be placed on the national identity register when it is introduced.

All visa applicants would also be fingerprinted by 2008.

However, the ‘war of policies’ between the two main parties has worried a number of campaign groups, fearful that the ultimate losers will be real people simply wanting a better life.

Habib Rahman, chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: “The UK should be putting out the welcome mat, not sounding like we’re saying no more room at the inn. We have extremely low unemployment and the UK needs to compete in a global market for the best workers, high or low-skilled.”

LOSERS

“We question whether restricting right of leave to remain and appeal for entry clearance for family members will make much difference to the figures. The vast majority of people who come here to work do not apply for indefinite leave to remain. As the rules only allow them to bring in their spouse and children, there are no grounds for appeal for other family members. People coming in under the 12-month permit – the largest- growing group – have no rights to bring in family at all,” Rahman said.

He added: “In the long-term, Britain will be the loser, not the rest of the world.”

In his recent utterances, Howard has said that there were “literally millions of people in other countries who would like to come and live here. Britain cannot take them all.”

Immigration has long been a stomping ground for the Conservatives, particularly when they are struggling in the polls.

Former leader William Hague also raised the spectre of Britain being lost to too many migrants in 2001. He duly failed to win the general election and resigned as head of the party.

Howard, himself the son of Romanian asylum seekers, seems destined for the same route.

But the xenophobic ranting has not been limited to the major parties. Earlier this month, former BBC chat show host Robert Kilroy-Silk launched the new party Veritas and resolutely highlighted immigration and asylum as a key focus for his group.

“Our country is being stolen from us,” he bleated.

XENOPHOBIA

So just what is it about immigration that rouses the worst in the hearts and minds of British politicians?

Tauhid Pasha of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said, “Xenophobia is an inherent part of all societies.”

He continued, “It’s an electoral issue that captures the electorate and the media. At the moment Britain is in a good economic situation, which has been fuelled by immigration. But at the same time, there is a climate of fear since 9/11.”

However, Pasha doesn’t believe that immigration will remain as an issue for the entire election period.

“I don’t think it will carry on,” he said. “If both parties are talking it up, there is going to be very little for the electorate to choose between them.”

For those migrants and asylum seekers now entering the country, however, there is little in the way of welcome.

One Nigerian student, who preferred not to be named, told The Voice, “It just makes us feel like we’re not wanted in this country. They seem quite happy to take my university fees but the government and all the politicians still go on about too many foreigners coming here. It’s such a hypocritical society. Just the other day Oxford University was saying they wanted more overseas students because we pay the university more to study there. That can’t be fair.”

Just as in the days of mass Caribbean and African migration, many people today still see the UK as a land of opportunity where they can achieve their dreams.

When Ndelamiko Lord, 30, was granted a working holiday-maker visa to enter and work in the UK, she thought that her dream had come true. “Since I was 18 years old, people were telling me that I had too much talent and skill to stay in the Caribbean,” she said.

A former journalist, editor and web developer, she decided that she could make more money in a country that could pay her worth.

“I came here purely for economic reasons,” she stated boldly. “If I was making the kind of money in the Caribbean that I know I am worth, I would never have left. I think its wrong to try to restrict talented, skillful young people from coming here. They should allow young people to come because there are shortages in the UK, particularly in the IT industry,” she said.

ECONOMICS

Lord is one of those people increasingly described in right wing tabloids as an economic migrant – a person that comes to the UK purely and simply to better their economic standing.

Her situation is totally different from other migrants who may come to this country as students, to be reunited with family, or as asylum seekers, fleeing war or torture at home. For people seeking asylum in the UK the rhetoric is frightening.

Constance Kujamba from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Peace Nikuze from Rwanda sought refuge in the UK.

Speaking from the All African Women’s Group at the Crossroads Women’s Centre, they said: “We fled from war, rape and other torture. Leaving is a last desperate step to escape war’s devastation.

“They made us destitute, even those of us with babies – and that’s becoming the standard for everyone. Howard’s family escaped Nazi war, but he denies us, especially if we are black, the same protection.

“Women and children are most of the world’s refugees. In Africa we fight for our families and communities, and the same here. Who will support us in our efforts to get the same protection and resources that everyone needs?”

With anti-immigration sentiment on the rise, the distinction between the different groups of migrants is increasingly absent.

Conservative leader Howard did little to explain the difference when he promised to set an annual limit to immigration and argued that such controls were “essential for good community relations. They are vital for the management of public services. And they are critical for the maintenance of national security.”

His comments were attacked for being racist, and are strikingly similar in sentiment to comments made by Enoch Powell and William Hague in 1968 and 2001 respectively.

Interestingly, much like William Hague, Howard stopped short of referring to black and minority ethnic migrants, perhaps having learnt from Powell’s mistake in the 60s.

Karen Chouhan, chief executive of The 1990 Trust, said frankly: “Let’s be clear about what he means – Michael Howard is talking about black people, not Europeans.”

Humfrey Malins, shadow immigration minister, pointed out that his party was not concerned about the colour of immigrants’ skin, but the failure of the government to tackle the system as a whole.

“Our population is going up by a net 50,000 a year. Any government that says that can go on indefinitely is not doing its duty properly,” he slammed.

Somewhat astonishingly, black Britons are not immune to this anti-immigrant sentiment.

Former boxing hopeful and Veritas parliamentary candidate Winston McKenzie, is infamous for his views that ‘Britain is full.’

OBLIGATIONS

But is all this talk what we’ve come to expect in an election year?

Shaun Wallace, barrister and the first black winner of the quiz show Mastermind, put the present immigration frenzy down to election rhetoric.

“We should stick to honouring our international human rights obligations. We’re not the only country to suffer from illegal migration. It seems like people are scared of the colonisers becoming the colonised,” he pointed out.

“Britain opened its doors to the Commonwealth during the great wars and those people that came made great contributions that are still not recognised to this day.”

Wallace, whose parents migrated from Jamaica, said: “The political parties are trying to score political points instead of addressing the social needs. They want to be seen as tough on immigration and not diluting Britain.”

The barrister warned: “We may be entering a dangerous cycle whereby talk about the so-called chaotic immigration system will resonate through the whole of Europe. Already in Norway and Austria we see the rise of the far right over the issue of immigration.”

Published: 14 February 2005
Issue: 1153