The Saturday list #490 - Ten myths about illegal immigrants

I normally do nice, happy lists, celebrating silliness, but given the cobblers coming out of certain dodgy politicians mouths of late, I  felt it necessary to correct a few myths.

1. The UK is full and there is no space for asylum seekers crossing in boats. Last year, the UK had 108,000 asylum applications. That is undeniably a lot of people, but did you know that, according to the office for National statistics, 517,000 people left the UK. Now there were over 1.2 million immigrants, but less than 10% were asylum seekers, the rest were coming here perfectly legally. 

2. There is no space for all of the illegal immigrants. If you ever travel around the UK, the vast majority of the country is uninhabited. The problems with housing etc are largely because our cities have not grown to cater for the recent population growth. There are plenty of areas in the UK where population is declining. Of course, these are generally not places that immigrants want to live and they are shrinking because there is little work or prospects for the local population. Google AI says "Several areas in the UK are experiencing population decline. Coastal towns, particularly smaller ones, have seen slower population growth or even decline compared to inland areas. Certain local authorities in Scotland, including Inverclyde and North Ayrshire, have also seen decreases. Additionally, some towns in the North East of England and Wales have experienced a decline in younger age groups while older populations have increased. Finally, some cities in the Greater South East, like Oxford, Luton, Aldershot, and Ipswich, have also seen their populations fall. "

3. Illegal immigrants are taking social housing away from local people, who need decent housing. Of course, illegal immigrants, like everyone else, need to live somewhere and there is a fixed and stretched stock of housing. But housing policy in the UK has been failing since the days when Margaret Thatcher sold off the nations council housing stock, choosing not to replace it. Blaming people who have just turned up for decades of failure in housing policy is to allow those politicians, Tory and Labour, who have failed us, to escape blame for a situation they have caused.

4. Illegal immigrants are taking jobs that young people in the UK could do. I doubt any illegal immigrants are managing directors of FTSE or other major companies. Most do the absolute worst jobs, as cleaners, and in the building trade. UK residents generally won't do such work. It amuses me how often people who are rabidly anti immigrant are perfectly happy to employ cheap, dodgy tradesmen, paying cash for services, to get a "good deal". There is a reason that illegal immigrants do such jobs. It is because the UK population is addicted to wanting a bargain. 

5. Asylum seekers are sponging on benefits. I have a major problem with the UK government policy on Asylum seekers. They are actually forbidden from working by law until their situation is resolved. This means that the taxpayer picks up the bill, often for people perfectly capable of doing jobs. Personally I think that anyone going through the system should have to pay their own way, unless they physically can't.

6. Illegal immigrants are an army invading the UK, bent on changing our culture. Anyone who has ever been to Spanish coastal resorts, will see how well the English integrate when we go abroad. Anywhere with a large English population, will have English cafe's, English Pubs, etc. Interestingly they are usually packed in a way such ventures in London can only dream of. A mate recently posted on facebook that he liked going to Spain because you can get a decent full English at a recent price. That is how we behave abroad. Yet some people get the right hump when people from other countries want to keep elements of their own culture, for their communities here. No one is denying that we have problems with some of the people who've come here. My view is that the UK authorities should not be tolerant of anyone who arrives and breaks our laws. So long as new arrivals respect the law, contribute to our country and work to make the UK a better place, they should be welcomed. The 'army' arriving in boats, are simply people who did what Norman Tebbitt urged the English unemployed to do "GEt on your bike and look for a job". I don't understand how the right wing can celebrate Tebbit then get the hump with people who do just that.

7. Why don't immigrants go to other European countries instead of the UK? This is what Google has to say about the number of immigrants in various EU countries and the UK.

In absolute terms, the largest numbers of foreign-born individuals living in EU countries on 1 January 2024 were found in Germany (16.9 million), France (9.3 million), Spain (8.8 million) and Italy (6.7 million).

In the year ending June 2022, there were an estimated 10,388,000 people in England and Wales who were not born in the UK, accounting for approximately 14.8% of the total UK population. This includes both UK citizens and foreign nationals who were living in the UK at that time.

As you can see, Germany has a larger number, France and Italy have a similar number (bearing in mind populations, apologies for only being able to get UK stats for 2022). Whether you like it or not, EU Nations also have large immigrant populations. 

8. Why do we have to take so many immigrants with no link to the UK? Sadly, this argument is a fallacy. A century ago, around a quarter of the population of the Earth lived under UK rule. India, large parts of Africa, other parts of Asia, all were run by Great Britain. In the 1950's, the then Conservative shadow employment spokesman minister, Enoch Powell, who is best known for his incendiary racist speech that got him the sack in 1968 from Ted Heath's Shadow Cabinet, invited Commonwealth citizens (now known as The Windrush Generation) to do the jobs British workers felt were beneath them. The vast majority of immigrants come from places that the British used to run. Of the other places, we have been involved in wars in those areas and often our involvement helped trigger huge population movements of refugees.

9. The Reform and the Tories are more anti immigrant than Labour. Of course we all know what a certain Mr Nigel Farage has to say about immigration. But as he's never been anywhere near power, we have no idea what he would actually do in power. What we do know, is that there are many people in Reform who have defected from the Tories. Historically, the Tories are the party of business and business in the UK is addicted to cheap labour from migrants. The Labour party is funded by the Trades Unions, who are very anti immigrant. Unions exist to improve the wages and conditions of members. Immigrants undermine these goals. The Tories talk tough on immigration, but this is all for show. I believe the same will be true of Farage, given that his party is funded by wealthy business people.

10. In 100 years time, everyone in the UK will have brown skin and we'll all go to the Mosque instead of Christian Churches. Sadly, the reason people are not going to church is nothing to do with immigration. It is because they what is on offer doesn't appeal to them. The graph below gives some clue as to how we are changing.

The biggest source of immigrants is India, who are largely Hindu and most certainly won't be going to the Mosque. We also have large influxes of people from China and Ukraine. Of course many immigrants from Pakistan are Muslims, but they are not a particularly large part of the overall total. As for the Nigerian immigrants. If, like me, you actually go to Church, you'll know that half the congregation are Nigerian. In fact the church is more packed than ever, with Ukranians and Nigerians!

By all means, and I'd agree, that both Tories and Labour have made a dogs breakfast of immigration, and they are equally useless, slag off the government. By all means, and I'd agree, say that their policies are damaging the UK and causing division. But please, do me a favour and base your arguments on reality and the facts, not the myths perpetrated by the likes of shady snake oil salesmen such as Nigel Farage. 

I apologise for not putting up a fun list. It's just that I cannot stand liars.