Labour has never had an open-door immigration policy

Source: The Guardian, 06/12/2016

Whether it’s Irish labour or the Windrush generation, migration has
always been driven by economic necessity
One of the great myths of public life in the UK is that we are not
allowed to talk about immigration, yet an objective observer might
feel we talk about little else. At the heart of the debate, there has
been a pervasive “post-truth” narrative that Labour governments
operated an open-door immigration policy â€" one that they maintain in
opposition today.


How immigration came to haunt Labour: the inside story
But no British government has ever had an open-door immigration
policy, Labour, Conservative or otherwise. Historically, the main
driving force for immigration to this country has been government
policy powered by an economic necessity within the UK. We need migrant
workers.


There have of course been frequent periods of war and upheaval which
have produced large numbers of refugees â€" the Syria crisis is just the
latest example of this.


A widely known example is the “Windrush generation” of migrants
arriving from the Caribbean, starting with the arrival of the Empire
Windrush in 1948. These migrants were invited to come here. The
postwar labour shortage, the tasks of reconstruction and the
continuation of conscription all meant that migrants were making a
vital contribution to the economy, both the private and public sectors
â€" without even mentioning the ways in which they enriched the cultural
life of the country.


This was true of Irish immigration from the mid-19th century onwards
and many less well known influxes of labour, including overseas
workers to the south Wales coal fields towards the turn of 20th
century. About the same time, Russians and Poles also settled in
Scotland, taking up work in the mines and in the tailoring and
catering trades. The Jewish population of Scotland grew dramatically,
partly as a result â€" though it still stands at around 0.1% of the
population. All of these enriched the whole of society, materially and
culturally.


For families separated by arcane rules, the notion that Britain has an
open-door policy will produce hollow laughter
Yet over time immigration rules have only become tighter. For all
those Commonwealth citizens who were initially told they were entitled
to come here but have since been blocked, or for those separated from
loved ones by arcane rules separating families, the notion that
Britain has an open-door immigration policy will produce hollow
laughter. In the 14 years before 2010 there were 91 policy or
legislative changes on some aspect of immigration. Virtually all of
them tightened immigration access. The coalition and the current Tory
government were not to be outdone. In a little over six years, there
have been a further 209 such changes.


This legislative frenzy has always been cast in terms of controlling
numbers or, even more fruitlessly, in the case of Theresa May,
reducing numbers. Immigration is growing in the UK, just as it is in
France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and a host of European and other
countries, because migrants are needed and because people want to
migrate. At times we have introduced controls that undermine our own
prosperity. Recently, universities, farmers and the NHS have all
reported difficulties in recruiting from Europe.


As business, government, markets and labour forces become more
international these trends will only continue. Without immigration in
some parts of the country we would face a serious crisis: we have a
rapidly ageing population, yet would be unable to staff public
services, attract financial expertise, or even process potatoes.


Labour does not have an open-door immigration policy, it never
has.

Labour is for fair migration policies that benefit the
population as a whole, plus a policy of investment that will improve
the living standards for the overwhelming majority of people.