Throughout human history immigrants have always been a soft target for unscrupulous politicians seeking a bit of cheap popularity. This is especially true of those who are a “bit different”, whether it be skin colour, religion, or just by speaking a different language. They generally don’t
have a vote, come with much money, or anything that might prove useful to these politicians self interest.
They perpetuate this great myth that “immigrants come here and steal jobs from our own people”.
But how real is this myth?
Before the UK referendum on European Union membership the people kept being told that if only we left the European Union then all the jobs currently being done by immigrants would be done by UK citizens. This was based on the obvious lie that if all things were
equal and an employer could choose between two candidates, one British, one immigrant, with equal qualifications equal references then the employer would choose the immigrant. This is clearly nonsense yet it was a lie that generated a lot of traction during the referendum campaign.
The then Home Secretary Theresa May promised to create a “hostile environment” for immigrants living in the UK, and when she became Prime Minister her successor at the Home office vowed to maintain this policy.
As a result of this policy, and the victory of the anti-immigration lobby at the referendum, the UK has started to lose skilled workers from all industries. The National Health Service is suffering a major crisis because of a huge shortage of qualified Doctors, Nurses, Midwives etc. that have been the mainstay of the service for many years. Is it any wonder that faced with the Governments “hostile environment”, the continuous de-humanising attacks on them from the mainly right wing press, that many of these qualified workers are now moving on to work somewhere that they are appreciated?
The UK Government is now telling these highly skilled people who can work anywhere in the world that they can stay in this hostile environment after all, at least until they have trained up some people to replace them and then they will deport them.
Is it any wonder people are refusing this kind offer?
Also published on Medium.
