Immigration has increased four-fold in the last decade, under the Labour government, from 50,000 to approximately 200,000, straining the resources of the NHS (National health Service), schools, housing, and other public services. There has been much grumbling by the public and the press alike, but little action by the politicians. Now, a coalition headed by former Labour Minister Frank Field, and including Tory MP Nicholas Soames, former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, and prominent Muslim, Labour politician Lord Ahmed, is calling for immigration to be capped.
 
Immigrants allowed to settle permanently in the UK would, according to their recommendations, be limited to 20,000 per annum, and would consist largely of those in higher paying sectors of employment. Other migrant workers would be allowed to stay for four years on a temporary work visa, eligibility of which would be determined by a points system. The coalition argues that this would see the UK population level at 65 million in 2050 rather than the currently projected 78.6 million – a figure widely regarded as unworkable. Unsurprisingly, however, their proposals are already coming under fire by those committed to immigration.
 
Jill Rutter, of the Migration, Equalities and Citizenship Team for the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), has responded to the coalition, saying, “The proposal that migrant workers should leave the UK after a four-year period would mean employers could not retain the hard-working migrants they want to. We need to make migration work for Britain, rather than play to xenophobic sentiments.” Condemnation as xenophobic or racist anyone seeking to limit, or even discuss mass immigration has proved a highly successful, if dishonest, tactic over the last few years by the Left. Yet it has been recognized for some time that ethnic minorities themselves are likely to oppose mass immigration to the UK. A recent YouGov poll, conducted for Field’s coalition, shows the number is seventy-five percent. And the inclusion of Lord Ahmed among the dissenters makes such accusations even more fatuous.
 
However, where Labour and its ideologues would once have stood up for the common man, it now champions business. Immigration minister Liam Byrne echoes Rutter, in referring to Labour’s new points system for immigration, which, he claims, “[…] means only those with the skills Britain needs can come. Unlike made-up quotas, this stops Government cutting business off from the skills it needs when it needs them.” Most migrants, however, have been taking either manual or low-skilled work, which does not require mass immigration, especially at a time of rising unemployment.
 
Poor Whites and poor Blacks seem especially vulnerable to cheap imported labour, however, and they are also now the lowest achieving groups in education. But, Rutter has suggested in her recent article for the IPPR, Population: size isn't everything, that international migration is inevitable, and thus any discussion of numbers, or of limiting the numbers of migrants to the UK, is tangential to the real issue of, “how we can maximize the benefits of migration and how we can build good community relations.” But, uncontrolled, mass immigration of such an unprecedented scale, itself undermines community relations, and, as such, restricting the number such as Field’s coalition recommends is essential for this very reason.
 
Notably, according to government’s own Citizenship Survey for 2008 32 percent of ethnic minorities, and 58 percent of Whites, believe that racism is getting worse – a significant increase overall since Labour came to power. To make matters worse, 25 percent of Whites, and 11 percent of ethnic minorities, believe that they would be racially discriminated against by housing authorities. As this is one service that will come under increasing pressure with further immigration, this sense of discrimination could eventually prove a catalyst to real unrest.
 
Though it will certainly cause the government some discomfort, Fields’ coalition is unlikely to get want it wants. A reduction from 200,000 to 20,000 is dramatic, and it is improbable that either a Labour or Conservative government would commit to such a move. An economic downturn will reduce immigration slightly, and the government will credit its points system, but the public is unlikely to believe this, as it has made no noticeable difference so far. Nevertheless, the issue of mass immigration may now begin to treated with greater seriousness and urgency, if only for the wrong reasons.
 
According to the YouGov poll already mentioned, 81 percent of Labour voters and 89 percent of Conservative voters want a significant reduction in immigration. Going into the elections, the Conservatives would certainly pick up votes by tackling the issue, while refusal to do so much longer could recast Cameron as a leader too soft to take necessary decisions.