Is The UK’s Grip On Immigration Too Tight?

What was Gordon Brown trying to achieve with his speech on immigration?

Although he devoted a lot of time to policy changes, they really don’t amount to much more than tweaks to the system.

Net immigration is now falling substantially anyway. So, the purpose of the speech was surely political – and part of a government-wide strategy, following as it did the home secretary’s recent intervention in the debate.

Clearly, immigration has been a political disaster for Labour (though the evidence shows it has not caused the economic and social damage that critics claim). Those close to the government in the first term admit now that they didn’t really have a properly thought-through immigration policy – and that when asylum spiked in the late 1990s their strategy amounted to little more than plugging gaps in a weak system and trying to keep a lid on the problem. These admissions show just how unrealistic are the Daily Mail’s claims that there was a grand conspiracy to use high levels of immigration to change the face of the UK for party advantage. As is usually the way of these things, Labour’s relatively relaxed approach to surging immigration was more accident than conspiracy.

Since then, however, and particularly since the “not fit for purpose” days, the Home Office has really pulled its socks up. The issue now is not whether the government has a grip on migration, but whether that grip is too tight. Many economists and migrant-supporting NGOs would argue it is. The Institute for Public Policy Research has some sympathy with this standpoint, and over time we would like to see a more progressive migration policy, but we recognise that the government had a real problem which it had to deal with.

Where the prime minister’s speech is disappointing is that it still strikes such a defensive and backward-looking note. Admittedly, there was plenty on the great contribution of migrants to the UK, but these sections had a ritual feel. The central message – yet again – was that the government is getting tougher. Government strategists argue that this is their only option because the public is so implacably opposed to immigration. The opinion polls and blogosphere certainly seem to confirm that. But we think this is because the debate has been allowed to be framed in divisive “pro” and “anti” terms. Given a choice between these two, the public does go for “anti”. But this is a false dichotomy. Our research suggests that most people are – surprise, surprise – somewhere in the middle.

The little Englanders and zero-immigration merchants, never mind the BNP and its ilk, talk for a tiny extreme minority of public opinion. People don’t want to see immigration stopped, they understand the economic benefits, they like our multicultural society, and they often admire migrants. They also want controls and management, they want to see migrants integrating and making a contribution, they want to see compliance with immigration law and enforcement action where it is being violated.

But these policies are already in place – and a few more changes to tighten up are probably unnecessary, even damaging. Brown should have come out confidently to say that the Labour government has already put in place a policy framework that will allow this country to reap the benefits of immigration in the coming years. Instead, the impression was created that immigration is still a problem for the UK, that Labour is still on the back foot, still making concessions to its critics, and still not able to put across a strong case for immigration. That is a real shame and a missed opportunity.

Tim Finch is the head of migration policy at ippr.

Topics: Britain, economic development, Economy, England, Governance, government, illegal immigration, immigration, policy, politics, population, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, social damage, UK, United Kingdom

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