Nigel Farage in front of his Breaking Point poster. Philip Toscano/Press Association. All rights reserved.If you
woke up this morning in a British city, you can see this happening right in
front of your eyes. From the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham – one
of the most diverse cities in the UK – the Tories are feeding the press
with anti-immigration soundbites relentlessly, competing among each other for
who upsets the liberal
Guardian readers the most.
Nearly all major
newspapers open their front pages this morning on immigration, often
with direct quotes of their favourite minister. The message is clear, this
government will give to the people (or more precisely the British voters) what
they want and ‘we must not ignore the fact that people want to talk about
immigration’ explains Amber Rudd.
And if
you are ‘a foreigner’ (the definition these days is rather flexible and for
some includes also BME), you are likely to be asking yourself: do I really have
to stay here? Unfortunately, disentangling oneself from a place is not as easy
as asking the question.
Cutting
immigration
‘Cutting
immigration’ has become the new mantra of British political life, the tune
everyone in politics and media has to dance to. It looks as if nothing else
count these days and everything is framed through the prism of controlling
immigration. This happens to be a malleable and multitasking tool in the hand
of our politicians – an incredibly bright spotlight that leaves them immense
policy opportunities in the darkness, away from public scrutiny.
At the
beginning of the week, the Daily Mail launched a vicious (and
unsubstantiated) attack from its front page on EU doctors working in the NHS
for allegedly posing a threat to UK patients, a few days later the PM and the Health Secretary
have ready a proposal to train more British doctors. Yes, the same Jeremy Hunt
who has upset the majority of British doctors. No, don’t expect the Daily Mail
to appreciate the irony. This is the newspaper who strangely enough never
castigated Theresa May for failing her own immigration target for five
years as Home Secretary. Liam Fox
instead has talked of EU nationals currently living in the UK as a bargaining
chip in the Brexit negotiations.
On her
part, Amber Rudd
wants firms to publish a list of foreign workers and to name-and-shame those
firms who employ too many foreigners and, as if this was not enough, she
also wants to restrict access to international students, who are the
ambassadors for Britain and its HE system in the world (they also bring a lot
of money but I leave this argument to Universities UK).
Many this
morning felt a sense of shock. Journalists have queried Theresa May, expecting
some kind of reassurance or clarification. And she responded, reassuring EU
workers living in the UK that they are welcome… for now, that is until they can
be disposed and replaced by the new breed of Brits.
Cutting
migrants
Literally
cutting migrants is how this new ‘centre ground’ of British politics is
translated on the street, with verbal and physical abuses against foreigners at
an unprecedented
level. But this is Brexit Britain and Tory politicians keen to
launch a hostile takeover bid on UKIP and its voters are unwilling to speak
out.
And
others follow suit. According to the European
Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), police, prosecutors
and the courts are “filtering out” racial elements in hate crime cases, half of
reported hate crime is not prosecuted and judges are under-using heavier
sentences for hate crime.
So the
short answer is: unfortunately, yes.
This blog was originally published on Postcards from…
