Football fans held up signs in the stadium last weekend: ‘Migrants welcome’. Neighbors left chocolates and thank you cards on the doorstep with Gary Lineker, the BBC presenter who was so critical to the British government’s plan to expel boat migrants as quickly as possible without considering their asylum applications. He received support from all corners of society. On social media read the key phrase #ImwithGary.
Is this the same UK where, in the run-up to Brexit, anti-immigration sentiment ran so high? Where arrests take place, just last month, at demonstrations that got out of hand in front of hotels where asylum seekers are staying? Yes and no.
The British population is still more or less divided along ‘traditional’ lines, the same as in the run-up to leaving the European Union more than three years ago. Older, lower-educated and conservative Britons are generally more against immigration, and younger, progressive, higher-educated people are more positive. Protesters with ‘Refugee Welcome’ signs standing in front of angry Britons “who want their country back”.
At the same time, there is certainly a change in public opinion. From research University of King’s College London showed last year that a majority of Britons are sympathetic to immigrants. But only if they have a job: 58 percent of residents say migrants are welcome “as long as jobs are available”, which is a higher percentage than in Germany, Canada or Australia, for example.
Migration not decreased
While the free movement of people within the European Union has been one of the main concerns of expatriation advocates, the number of migrants has not decreased since the UK regained control of its immigration policy. Last year, the country even had a record number of immigrants. A large proportion were Ukrainians and Hong Kongers who made use of an asylum scheme; about a quarter of immigrants entered on a work visa.
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The labor market is tight, especially in the health care and social sectors (such as home care and youth care), where Indians, Nigerians and Filipinos are replacing the former EU migrants. And where only eleven Kyrgyz came to the UK in 2019, there were almost 4,500 last year. They were given temporary visas for seasonal work normally done by Romanians or Bulgarians. The government also made extra visas available in the agricultural and horticultural sector in order to meet the demand of growers. The extra hands are needed.
Boats
The resistance in society is therefore mainly aimed at uncontrolled immigration and the boats with migrants on the Channel are an ultimate expression of this. This also shows findings from YouGov polling agency, in which half of Britons agree with a specific part of the government’s plan to permanently deprive migrants who have tried to cross the river of their chance of asylum or another type of residence permit. They would never enter the UK again.
The opponents of boat migration also consider that the government spends 5.6 million pounds (6.3 million euros) daily on hotel costs for tens of thousands of asylum seekers awaiting their procedure. The picture is that the asylum seekers profit and lounge about, but the British government itself has a big hand in those costs. The Ministry of the Interior has its own administration out of order and some 161,000 asylum seekers await a first decision in their case. By way of comparison: at the end of 2018, there were less than 36,000.