Latest news with #massimmigration
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Diane Abbott is pushing the Left's biggest myth about immigration
The Labour Left were always bound to loathe Sir Keir Starmer's recent speech about the downsides of mass immigration. All the same, one of their objections to it strikes me as somewhat peculiar. At a rally on Saturday, the veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott thundered that Sir Keir's speech was 'nonsense' – because, as she stoutly reminded her audience, 'immigrants built this land'. Stirring stuff. I can see only one small problem. It's not strictly true, is it? Clearly Ms Abbott disagrees. Indeed, she proudly declared that her own parents 'helped to build this country'. As she herself acknowledged, though, they only arrived here from Jamaica in the 1950s. What precisely does Ms Abbott think Britain looked like, before her parents' ship pulled in? A barren, primitive, uncivilised wilderness, whose humble natives dwelt in bushes and subsisted on nettles and raw shrew? Did her parents look around, sigh, and then patiently set about erecting St Paul's Cathedral and Blenheim Palace? I'm not convinced that they did. In fact, I'm reasonably sure that most of this country was built a fair bit earlier, largely by people who were born in it. This is because, until quite recently, only a very small percentage of the population was born abroad. Between 1951 and 2001, the average annual net immigration figure was 7,800. In 2023, by contrast, it was 906,000. It doesn't take a mathematician of Ms Abbott's stature to recognise that this is quite a sharp increase. Still, I don't mean to pick on her. She's far from alone. In recent years, any number of Left-wing politicians and pundits have taken to pushing the line that 'immigrants built Britain'. On last week's edition of the BBC's Question Time, for example, the retired trade union leader Mark Serwotka informed viewers that Britain is only 'the great country it is because of centuries of immigration'. From the Left's point of view, I suppose I can see this tactic's advantages. Any time a voter dares suggest that net immigration of almost a million a year is a touch on the high side, and possibly not entirely sustainable in the longer term, shut them up by telling them that a) it's always been like this, and b) they should be grateful. The risk, though, is that some voters might feel a tiny bit insulted. Because the claim that 'immigrants built Britain' implies that the natives were so ignorant, lazy and useless, they achieved nothing until their superiors arrived from abroad to lift them out of savagery. Come to think of it, I'm reasonably sure that the Left used to have a word for that type of attitude. It was 'colonialism'. 'Way of the World' is a twice-weekly satirical look at the headlines while aiming to mock the absurdities of the modern world. It is published at 6am every Tuesday and Saturday Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Diane Abbott is pushing the Left's biggest myth about immigration
The Labour Left were always bound to loathe Sir Keir Starmer's recent speech about the downsides of mass immigration. All the same, one of their objections to it strikes me as somewhat peculiar. At a rally on Saturday, the veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott thundered that Sir Keir's speech was 'nonsense' – because, as she stoutly reminded her audience, 'immigrants built this land'. Stirring stuff. I can see only one small problem. It's not strictly true, is it? Clearly Ms Abbott disagrees. Indeed, she proudly declared that her own parents 'helped to build this country'. As she herself acknowledged, though, they only arrived here from Jamaica in the 1950s. What precisely does Ms Abbott think Britain looked like, before her parents' ship pulled in? A barren, primitive, uncivilised wilderness, whose humble natives dwelt in bushes and subsisted on nettles and raw shrew? Did her parents look around, sigh, and then patiently set about erecting St Paul's Cathedral and Blenheim Palace? I'm not convinced that they did. In fact, I'm reasonably sure that most of this country was built a fair bit earlier, largely by people who were born in it. This is because, until quite recently, only a very small percentage of the population was born abroad. Between 1951 and 2001, the average annual net immigration figure was 7,800. In 2023, by contrast, it was 906,000. It doesn't take a mathematician of Ms Abbott's stature to recognise that this is quite a sharp increase. Still, I don't mean to pick on her. She's far from alone. In recent years, any number of Left-wing politicians and pundits have taken to pushing the line that 'immigrants built Britain'. On last week's edition of the BBC's Question Time, for example, the retired trade union leader Mark Serwotka informed viewers that Britain is only 'the great country it is because of centuries of immigration'. From the Left's point of view, I suppose I can see this tactic's advantages. Any time a voter dares suggest that net immigration of almost a million a year is a touch on the high side, and possibly not entirely sustainable in the longer term, shut them up by telling them that a) it's always been like this, and b) they should be grateful. The risk, though, is that some voters might feel a tiny bit insulted. Because the claim that 'immigrants built Britain' implies that the natives were so ignorant, lazy and useless, they achieved nothing until their superiors arrived from abroad to lift them out of savagery. Come to think of it, I'm reasonably sure that the Left used to have a word for that type of attitude. It was 'colonialism'. If you want a picture of the present... It was a bright cold day in June, and Winston Smith had just sat down at his desk in the Ministry of Truth. This morning he had an important job to do. A dangerous book urgently needed to be memory-holed. It was entitled Nineteen Eighty-Four. For decades, Nineteen Eighty-Four had been acclaimed as a landmark work of literature. Suddenly, however, it had been found to contain the most sickening thoughtcrime. The person who had made this shocking discovery was an American novelist named Dolen Perkins-Valdez. In a foreword she'd been commissioned to write for the book's latest edition, she declared that its main character exhibited attitudes towards women that were appallingly 'problematic'. Not only that, but the book didn't feature any characters who were black. 'A sliver of connection can be difficult for someone like me to find,' she wrote, 'in a novel that does not speak much to race and ethnicity.' Privately, Winston suspected that the reason the book did not speak much to race and ethnicity was that it had been written on a Scottish island by an Edwardian Englishman in the late 1940s. That was probably also the reason why none of its characters identified as genderqueer or pansexual, and why none of them had glued their buttocks to the M25 in support of puberty blockers for Palestine. But it was not Winston's place to make excuses for crimethink. In any case, he was used to such tasks. Not long ago he had been presented with the complete works of a children's author named Roald Dahl, and ordered to replace the entire text of each book with the endlessly repeated phrase 'BE KIND'. Had it been up to him, Winston would have been perfectly willing to rectify the text of Nineteen Eighty-Four, until all traces of crimethink had been eliminated. He could have ensured that it contained the correct number of characters who were 2SLGBTQIA+, neurodivergent or of Colour, and that they all expressed the officially mandated opinions about Islamophobia and net zero. The Ministry, however, had decided that there was no time. Better just to drop the offending object down the memory hole, and move swiftly on to his next task. This one was going to be tough. According to reports, there was a new TV adaptation of Harry Potter on the way, and the cast had completely failed to denounce JK Rowling. Winston had a lot of unpersoning to do.
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: Labour's in a mess of its own making... now the rebels are gathering
This is a Government in a mess. It has failed on its own terms, and it has failed in the eyes of the electorate. Perhaps most profoundly, it has betrayed itself for cheap and quick popularity over the issue of mass immigration. Why, after that, should anyone trust anything it says? We are not sorry that the Prime Minister has abandoned the foolish position on migration which he previously held. It was a wrong and dangerous position, and it was shored up by a great deal of spiteful intolerance towards those who opposed it. But it was something the modern Labour Party had claimed to believe in, with all its heart. As it turned out, it did not really care. Well, in Britain, we like our politicians to have some sort of core principle, passion and belief, even if we do not agree with them. Otherwise we might think they were mere careerists, not fit to be trusted with His Majesty's Government. Now comes the accelerating crisis caused by Labour's incurable desire to spend other people's money while remaining popular. The national budget simply cannot be made to add up – or at least the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, cannot make it do so. Labour came to power last year committed to appeasing its trade union friends, and so to enormous public sector wage bills. It pretended the predictable crisis, which resulted from this crude political pay-off, was actually the fault of the previous Tory government. But this did not alter the fact that it lacked the money to meet this and other commitments. And so came the abolition of winter fuel payments for about 10 million pensioners. Sir Keir had to draw heavily on the loyalty of his MPs – who do not think they were elected to do this sort of thing – to get it through Parliament in the first place. They hated it and still resent being made to vote for it. Now, appalled by the defection of Labour voters to Reform in local elections, he has reversed the decision. But he will not get back the loyalty he lost by making it in the first place. Perhaps this behaviour makes some sort of sense – changing your mind can be a virtue in politics. But Sir Keir is changing his mind so much that there is not much mind left, just a panic-stricken expression on his face and a feeling of doom creeping over his backbenches. And now, as so often happens to Labour governments, he is faced with open party warfare. He has become Captain Hopeless, swinging the rudder from Left to Right and back again. The Chancellor has become an embarrassment, thanks to her inability to make the nation's ends meet, as well as her general haplessness. No wonder she and Sir Keir face an ill-concealed rebellion from Deputy Leader Angela Rayner. Ms Rayner has a simple answer to the excuse that there is no money to pay for Labour's promises. That answer is – the one her party almost always reaches for at some stage – a major increase in taxes, from which most Labour voters would be exempt. This would, of course, lead to the usual economic strangulation which the Labour Party specialises in. But Ms Rayner has a popular appeal that Sir Keir can only dream of and a history of standing up to him. She must be causing him serious worry. Alas, for those of us who think we can spend our money better than the state can, another question arises. Why is the most dangerous opposition to the Starmer Government currently coming from its own Left wing?
Daily Mail
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Starmer's speech is likened to the rhetoric of Enoch Powell after admitting mass immigration risks are making Britain an 'island of strangers'
Keir Starmer was likened to Enoch Powell yesterday after he warned mass immigration risks making Britain an 'island of strangers'. The PM sparked fury among left-wing MPs by appearing to borrow from Mr Powell's controversial 'Rivers of Blood' speech. In his introduction to the Government's immigration White Paper, the PM warned about the 'damage' that the explosion in migrant numbers had caused to Britain. The PM wrote that public services were 'under too much pressure. Our economy has been distorted by perverse incentives to import workers.' John McDonnell described the PM's comments as 'shockingly divisive' and said that the reference to an island of strangers 'reflected the language of Enoch Powell'. In his 1968 speech, Mr Powell said the native British population had 'found themselves made strangers in their own country' because of mass immigration. Fellow Left-winger Zarah Sultana who, like Mr McDonnell currently has the Labour whip suspended, said on social media Sir Keir 'imitating' Mr Powell's speech was 'sickening'. And Labour MP Olivia Blake said: 'Moves to cast migrants as strangers are divisive and hostile.' A Government source said the PM had not been aware of a similarity with Mr Powell's speech, adding: 'It was absolutely not a reference to Powell. The PM's speech was about the need for integration.' The PM deployed the 'take back control' Brexit slogan at a press conference in Downing Street as he pledged to end the 'betrayal' of reliance on cheap foreign labour. Sir Keir accused the Tories of overseeing an explosion in numbers while in power, saying the system seemed 'designed to permit abuse' and was 'contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart'. He said he would give Brits what they had 'asked for time and time again' and 'significantly' reduce eye-watering immigration that has been inflicting 'incalculable damage'. The Home Office estimates the government's package will bring down annual inflows by around 100,000. In a pivotal moment, he also rejected the Treasury orthodoxy that high immigration drives growth - pointing out the economy has stagnated in recent years. Under the blueprint, skills thresholds will be hiked and rules on fluency in English toughened. Migrants will also be required to wait 10 years for citizenship rather than the current five, and face deportation for even lower-level crimes. Graduate visas will be reduced to 18 months, and a new levy introduced on income that universities generate from international students. Requirements that sponsoring institutions must meet in order to recruit international students are also being tightened. However, doubts have been raised about whether the White Paper proposals will have a big enough impact - as it does not include any targets or the hard annual cap being demanded by critics. Nigel Farage accused the premier of being 'insincere' and insisted he does not have the commitment to follow through. Sir Keir was also facing a backlash from his own side - with Labour MPs swiping that he was 'chasing the tail of the Right'. And as the PM was speaking about ' proper control and management' of UK borders another load of Channel boat arrivals were being brought ashore in Dover. The PM insisted the government would be 'investing in British workers' As the PM was speaking about 'proper control and management' of UK borders another load of Channel boat arrivals were being brought ashore in Dover Sir Keir underlined his determination that the changes will mean 'migration numbers fall' but added: 'If we do need to take further steps... then mark my words we will.' He refused to guarantee that net migration will fall every year from now, saying: 'I do want to get it down by the end of this Parliament significantly.' The premier said: 'Let me put it this way, nations depend on rules, fair rules. PM's 'Starmer Sutra' of positions on migration Keir Starmer 's attempt to clamp down on mass immigration today marked the culmination of a major journey for the one-time 'lefty' lawyer who championed EU freedom of movement and closing migrant detention centres. The Prime Minister today warned the UK risks becoming an 'island of strangers' without controls on immigration as he unveiled a crackdown including plans to cut overseas care workers and tighten English language requirements. In a Downing Street speech, Sir Keir said the Labour Government will 'take back control of our borders' and close the book on a 'squalid chapter' for politics and the economy. He spoke as Labour feels pressure from Nigel Farage 's Reform on the hard right of politics. But it comes just five years after he campaigned for the Labour leadership vowing to 'defend migrants' rights'. As he sought to see off leftwing challenger Rebecca Long-Bailey and replace Jeremy Corbyn he produced a 10-point manifesto including 'defending freedom of movement' and softer treatment of illegal immigrants. But after winning the leadership he began his long journey towards a harder line on immigration, sparking fury among his former allies on the left. Prior to that, as Mr Corbyn's shadow immigration minister and shadow Brexit secretary, he led an insurgent campaign in favour of a second referendum to stay in the EU, which was in the party's 2019 election manifesto. 'Sometimes they're written down, often they're not, but either way, they give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other. 'Now in a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more important. 'Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.' The announcement comes less than a fortnight after Reform UK rode a wave of rising public anger on immigration to triumph in the local elections, delivering a string of damaging defeats to Labour. Home Office aides are said to fear that without deep-rooted reforms, annual net migration will settle even higher than the 340,000 level projected by the Office for National Statistics. There are concerns it will end up closer to 525,000 by 2028 - when the country will be preparing for a general election - because migrants are staying for longer than previously thought. The rate stood at 728,000 in the year to June last year. However, the Treasury has been resisting the most dramatic steps for fear of further damaging the ailing economy. Sir Keir promised the plan 'will finally take back control of our borders and close the book on a squalid chapter for our politics, our economy and our country'. He added: 'Take back control.' Everyone knows that slogan, and everyone knows what it meant on immigration, or at least that's what people thought. 'Because what followed from the previous government, starting with the people who used that slogan, was the complete opposite. 'Between 2019 and 2023, even as they were going round our country, telling people with a straight face that they would get immigration down, net migration quadrupled, until in 2023 it reached nearly one million. 'That's about the population of Birmingham, our second largest city. That's not control. It's chaos.' Sir Keir said the country had been suffering under a 'system that encourages businesses to bring in lower-paid workers, rather than invest in our young people'. 'That is the Britain this broken system has created. Every area of the immigration system, including work, family and study, will be tightened up so we have more control. Enforcement will be tougher than ever and migration numbers will fall,' he said. 'This is a clean break from the past and will ensure settlement in this country is a privilege that must be earned, not a right. 'And when people come to our country, they should also commit to integration and to learning our language. Lower net migration, higher skills and backing British workers – that is what this White Paper will deliver.' Sir Keir said the problems risked making Britain 'an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together'. The Home Office estimates that the package will bring down annual inflows by around 100,000 Kemi Badenoch insisted that Labour 'doesn't believe in secure borders' Nigel Farage said the government 'will not do what it takes to control our borders' He said: 'So when you have an immigration system that seems almost designed to permit abuse, that encourages some businesses to bring in lower paid workers rather than invest in our young people, or simply one that is sold by politicians to the British people on an entirely false premise, then you are not championing growth. 'You are not championing justice or however else people defend the status quo. You're actually contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart.' In a foreword to the White Paper, Sir Keir wrote that the Tories had attempted a 'one-nation experiment in open borders'. 'The damage this has done to our country is incalculable,' he said. 'Public services and housing access have been placed under too much pressure. Our economy has been distorted by perverse incentives to import workers rather than invest in our own skills. 'In sectors like engineering, for example, apprenticeships have almost halved while visas doubled.' However, critics said the plans were nothing new and questioned Labour's appetite to implement them. Labour MP Sarah Owen, chair of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, said in a post on the Bluesky social media platform: 'I am proud of what immigrants like my mum and those across Luton North have given to our country. Many serve in our NHS, open biz, enrich culture/arts & much more. 'The best way to avoid becoming an 'island of strangers' is investing in communities to thrive – not pitting people against each other. 'I've said it before and will say it again, chasing the tail of the right risks taking our country down a very dark path. 'Fair & sensible checks on immigration should not equal blaming all the woes of our country on immigrants, rather than the failures of those in power for the last 14 years.' Under the proposals, migrants will be required to spend a decade in the UK before they can apply for citizenship and will need to have a good grasp of English. The White Paper will also attempt to end the scandal of failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals using human rights laws to block deportation. Ministers are expected to change the law to constrain judges' interpretation of elements of the European Convention on Human Rights. They will target Article 8, which protects the right to a family life and is often used by lawyers to block removal on spurious reasoning. However, ministers faced a backlash from the care sector yesterday, with a warning of possible collapse, after Ms Cooper said she would ban recruiting from overseas, while demanding companies train British workers. Ms Cooper said the dedicated care worker visa will be ended, insisting firms can no longer rely on 'recruiting from abroad'. That measure together with returning the skills thresholds for work visas to degree level will cut visa numbers by 50,000 a year, she suggested. Employers will be encouraged to 'develop domestic training plans to boost British skills and recruitment levels' instead. Alongside legal migration, the government is also facing a massive challenge on Channel boats. More than 11,500 people have made the perilous crossing this year – a record level. The number of people claiming asylum climbed from 91,811 in 2023 to a new high of 108,138 last year.
