“Britain Crushes Violent Anti-Immigration Riots, But the Real Battle Begins: A Nation on the Brink Faces a Harsh Reckoning Ahead”.H
The riot fire has been extinguished…
Britain’s new government has quelled recent anti-immigration riots by swiftly arresting and prosecuting hundreds of people involved in seven days of street violence, including mobs that vandalized mosques and burned down hotels housing migrants.
The riots were sparked by the social media images of three young girls being stabbed to death in Southport (near Liverpool), allegedly by an illegal Muslim immigrant. This sparked days of terror in the UK, as anti-immigration protesters rioted, vandalised and attacked police in several cities and towns.
Overall, racial anger in Britain has reached its highest level since the 1980s, leaving many of the country’s minorities wondering how welcome they really are in a normally tolerant and increasingly diverse society.
The riots have been a test of fire for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who came to power in July when his Labour Party won a landslide victory over the Conservatives. Sir Starmer has been credited with responding quickly, reasserting law and order on the streets. But for the 61-year-old leader, the more difficult task now begins: tackling the root causes of the unrest, in particular delivering on his promise to reduce near-record levels of legal and illegal immigration, both of which have surged in recent years, making immigration a top concern for British voters.
After the riots, a survey by market research and polling firm YouGov found that more than half of Britons named “immigration and refugees” as one of the top issues facing the country – almost on par with worries about the economy. And that level of concern among voters has risen to its highest level since 2016 – when the UK voted to leave the European Union (Brexit).
But the embers still smolder
Prime Minister Starmer has blamed the riots on “far-right thuggery”. But some political analysts say it would be wrong to blame racism alone or ignore some of the wider support for the rioters.
According to a YouGov poll, 16% of respondents said the rioters had “legitimate concerns” and a much larger number supported the view that immigration policy was an explanation for the riots. The survey also found that 57% of respondents said immigration in the UK was “too high” and just 4% said it was “too low”.
Since 2000, the proportion of the UK population born abroad has doubled to 17%. For comparison, that’s higher than the 14% of the US, although unlike the US, the UK is not an immigration country. For decades until the 1990s, the number of people leaving equaled the number of people arriving – keeping the UK’s net immigration rate at around zero. But since that decade, more people have arrived than left, a process that has accelerated as the UK has attracted more legal migrants from across the European Union: from Polish construction workers to Croatian waiters. By the time the UK voted to leave, net immigration had reached more than 300,000 people a year.
Brexit is expected to reduce net legal immigration because most EU citizens will no longer be able to live in the UK without a visa. But while Brexit gives the UK more control over EU immigration, the visa rules introduced by London will allow more people from elsewhere in the world to enter the UK. As a result, net legal immigration will rise rapidly, reaching a record 764,000 in 2022 before falling slightly to 685,000 in 2023, according to UK government figures.
This comes despite the Conservative government’s official pledge to keep net immigration below 100,000 a year. In recent years, some new arrivals have been part of humanitarian programmes to help Ukrainians and citizens of the former colony of Hong Kong. But the total number was just 102,000 last year. The vast majority of migrants to the UK are workers, students and families allowed to reunite.
Few advantages, many challenges
Prime Minister Sunak’s Conservative government has recently tightened visa rules, making it harder for people to bring their families to the UK. That means legal immigration will start to fall this year and in the years to come. Humanitarian programmes for Ukraine and Hong Kong are also winding down. That’s a good backdrop for Prime Minister Starmer to deliver on his promise to reduce net migration. “The Starmer government will inherit a tailwind in legal migration,” said Rob McNeil, deputy director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.
But challenges remain. Prime Minister Starmer will have to balance reducing net immigration with the potential damage to the economy from labour shortages in areas such as elderly care. There is also the possibility of restoring free movement with the EU.
The Times, citing a government source, said Labour would make concessions on the issue as part of its efforts to reset relations with the EU. It is likely that there will be a deal that would allow EU citizens under 30 to live and work in the UK for three years, and in return, British under-30s could receive reciprocal rights in any designated EU country.
Putting time and age limits on EU citizens working in the UK would allow Prime Minister Starmer to claim that he has kept his promise not to introduce full freedom of movement. But this would be a distinction without much real difference. Surveys in the UK show that the largest age group for net migration to the UK is 20-24 year olds, followed by 25-29 year olds. And freedom of movement is always a trend among young people, while youth unemployment is a serious problem in the EU in general and southern Europe in particular.
Spain, Greece, Italy, Romania and Portugal are all among the countries with youth unemployment rates approaching 20%. “So how many young Europeans could we expect to come to the UK if such a deal were agreed?” asks Patrick O’Flynn, a former MEP and political editor of the Daily Express.
The other, more difficult part is illegal immigration, which has increased dramatically in recent years. Over the past decade, the British and French governments have made a concerted effort to stop migrants from coming through the Channel Tunnel by hiding in lorries and containers. But that has led to a large number of migrants heading to the Channel to cross the sea to Britain by boat.
The number of people arriving by this route has risen rapidly, from just 299 in 2018 to a record 45,774 in 2022 before falling back to 29,437 in 2023. But this year’s sea crossings are on track to set a new record. In the past six months alone, around 31,000 people have entered the UK illegally after crossing the Channel in flimsy boats.
Prime Minister Starmer has scrapped the previous administration’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda and said he would focus on breaking up criminal gangs transporting potential refugees. He also plans to speed up the processing of asylum seekers once they arrive in the UK.
But stopping illegal immigration comes with a moral dilemma and pressure from opposition parties and human rights groups. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is facing a backlash over the government’s latest plans to tackle illegal immigration to the UK, according to the Independent.
Ms Cooper announced an extra 290 beds for two immigration detention centres (Campsfield House in Hampshire and Haslar in Oxfordshire) and the removal of more than 14,500 illegal immigrants in the next six months, more than at any time since 2018.
However, the decisions have been described as a “retrograde step” as the two immigration detention centres were closed due to “numerous problems” including hunger strikes and suicides. Meanwhile, Amnesty International’s director of asylum and migration rights, Steve Valdez-Symonds, criticised the plans for deportations as a “rehash” of the Conservatives’ old message on border security, warning that this “securitisation” approach could deter genuine asylum seekers from seeking refuge.
The plan to deport 14,500 illegal immigrants will also energize the far right, analysts say. “Instead of providing safe passage for refugees who need protection, we are providing a path for the far right to grow. This plan will feed the frenzy of those who see a link between poverty and immigration,” Weyman Bennett, co-founder of the human rights organization Stand Up To Racism, warned.
Clearly, tackling illegal immigration into the UK in a humane but effective manner is a huge challenge for Prime Minister Starmer’s government, much bigger than cracking down on the recent street riots.
