Readers respond to Maya Goodfellow’s article about attitudes towards immigration and the role of politicians in fuelling anti-migrant sentiment
Maya Goodfellow’s article (We keep hearing about ‘legitimate concerns’ over immigration. The truth is, there are none, 13 August) is a good intervention in the debates over immigration as she calls out the complicity of mainstream politicians in their condoning of racism. The “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants, a longstanding policy adopted by both Labour and Conservative governments since the 2000s, has been playing a key role in consolidating a racist culture in Britain. As politicians beat the drum, many ordinary British people practise it on a day-to-day basis. Let me provide an example.
My partner and I have been living in the UK for more than 20 years; we speak fluent English and we look east Asian. We moved to a small town in Yorkshire a few years ago. When we went into a local Co-op to buy a weekend newspaper for the first time, we were told that they didn’t have it. At the local newsagent, the shopkeeper sent their colleague to spy on us from outside, as if we’d be shoplifting. We tried to appoint a gardener to help us manage our large garden, and all three of the contractors we called in declined the business without giving any reason. I can only guess that some Yorkshire folks we’ve come across cannot get their head around the fact that we don’t run a Chinese takeaway and that we live in a large house.
We need to confront the “hostile environment” as it has persisted to become a common mentality. Such a mentality permeates throughout the immigrant experience in this country, as immigrants with non-white faces are often presumed illegal, and more than likely unwelcomed. The Windrush scandal is but one of the most recognised cases in point.
Name and address supplied
I agree with Maya Goodfellow that immigration and asylum are not legitimate concerns. This idea gives succour to the rioters and racists who are among us, unfortunately, but who are, thankfully, a small minority. There are absolutely no grounds for considering immigration anything other than beneficial to this country. Although I am an elderly white man, a recent DNA test showed me only to be 52% English. I also have four mixed‑race grandchildren of whom I am immensely proud. Look under the surface and we’re all immigrants of some sort.
It has been too easy for successive governments to point to immigration as a cause for all our ills. Essentially, this is to cover their own significant policy shortcomings by blaming “others”. It’s a popular trope also used by Donald Trump in calling immigrants thieves and murderers.
It’s time to face up to these truths and the Labour government should take the lead on this.
Jeremy Bunn
Clapton, London
How extraordinary was the statement in Maya Goodfellow’s article suggesting that there are no legitimate concerns about immigration. Any country has the right, and the obligation to its citizens, to set immigration policies based on a rational assessment of the country’s economic and other interests. The lack of control over illegal migration, and related dysfunctional policies in sectors such as welfare and social care, are legitimate concerns. The author’s apparent solutions including lower-cost visas, more taxes on the richest and better housing are a mixture of the naive and impractical.
Clive Armstrong
London
