Good evening! This week's edition of the In Common newsletter comes from Kaitlyn Dryburgh, policy and communications co-ordinator
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ROLL up, roll up! Welcome to the Trump tribute act. Watch as Yvette Cooper presents a cruel deportation video, marvel at Keir Starmer’s deportation crackdown, and be amazed at their magical ability to make their remaining supporters disappear.
In a misguided bid to attract Reform voters, it seems that Starmer is hoping an aggressive stance on immigration will win them over. It’s a mad-dash response, trying to show that they too can be tough. The difference between Starmer and the previous government seems to be simply a different colour of tie.
This isn’t a clever, well-thought-out, or even rational response to immigration; it’s more of the same. Unfortunately, their primary goal of attracting the increasingly common Reform voter won’t be solidified through this stance. Their dramatic, Trump-style roundup of supposedly illegal immigrants working in restaurants, car washes, and nail bars may make for a bit of drama, but at the end of the day, when your pay still isn’t going as far as it used to and immigration remains a volatile policy area, Reform will still be just as popular. It's no more than policy signalling, and it’s in place of proper policy and processes. The mass raids are a short-term fix, but by no means a long-term solution to either their drop in popularity or the immigration quandary.
Labour have been in government for less than a year, and in that time, they have gone through several "resets". They have misjudged a number of situations, and their popularity has plummeted. If an election were to be called tomorrow, there’s a high chance Reform would win the majority of the votes.
Labour, it could be argued, have paved the way for the rise of Reform. Labour abandoned any left-wing ideology, leaving many with no way to turn but to Reform. They have taken little notice of the average voters’ problems, thus leaving the door wide open for a focused and charged right-wing party like Reform to swoop in and pick up the pieces. But Labour cannot be solely blamed. On the whole, the left seems to have disbanded. We hear more about unhinged billionaires through the news than any left-wing support.
Now on the back foot, and in a recent "reset", Labour wants to shake the last of left-leaning policies and adopt an "if you can’t beat them, join them" stance. Starmer explained that “progressive liberals” have been “too relaxed about not listening to people about the impact” of immigration. I’m not sure who the progressive liberal in this scenario is because it wasn’t the previous government, and it certainly isn’t him and his crew. So who else has presided over immigration in the UK and identifies as a “progressive liberal”?
So, we continue on the same path, doing the same things, and expect different results. Oh, I don’t think I need a crystal ball to see where this is going.
An independent Scotland would not approach immigration like this. The framing of immigration for the UK is wholly legal/criminal, but if we positioned it differently, we could produce better results.
One of the main problems that politicians continuously fail to address is the aftercare – the period after arriving in the country and trying to integrate. Quite often, we have a pattern of immigrants arriving and being allowed to fall into adverse social situations: Isolated, in poverty, and not integrated into their communities. Not addressing these realities often leads to a failure in immigration and a rise in resentment.
Of course, the first phase is getting into the country. Why do we have so many small boats turning up at our shores? There are a plethora of reasons, but one of them is that the routes to arrive "legally" are few and far between. If we could start the process earlier and give the option of applying before they make the journey, this would ease the backlog. We can’t have open borders, but we can have a fair and respectful immigration system that continuously assesses its needs for immigrants. Arriving in this country should provide a timely and courteous application process, and in return, anyone who doesn’t meet the requirements should be expected to leave promptly.
The quality of immigration is important. It is a full process and shouldn’t end as soon as you’re granted permission to stay. Prioritising this has often shown greater support from the public. For those who claim refugee or asylum status or originate from a non-English-speaking country with a vastly different culture to our own, this could mean getting help with housing, accessing education, work, or the right documentation. Ensuring that they understand the civic and democratic systems and offering language classes.
It will take funding, but we’re already funding a very expensive and unsuccessful immigration service.
The Trump approach to immigration – which is based on short-term fixes and political signalling – will not reassure the public, nor will it win Labour support.
