Owen Smith and the “immigration question”

Submitted by Matthew on 10 August, 2016 - 11:14 Author: Elizabeth Butterworth

“There are too immigrants in parts of Britain”, is roughly what Owen Smith, Labour’s leadership challenger, on Newsnight on 25 July.

In response to James O’Brien’s question about whether there were too many migrants in Britain, he said, “In some places the way in which we saw a rapid influx in particular of Eastern European migrants after ascension of those countries to Europe, definitely caused downward pressure on wages, definitely caused changes to local terms and conditions for some workers in some sectors.” He described Eastern European migration in dehumanising terms as “an influx of, effectively, cheap labour” and asked “what it’s doing to squeeze people out of jobs who are... living in this country already”.

Further, he claimed that freedom of trade didn’t necessitate freedom of labour, saying “we” should be “much tougher and much more vigorous in rejecting the notion is that it’s a binary choice…we shouldn’t be lying down and accepting the terms” and instead should “negotiate much harder”.

Anyone who has been conscious in British politics will already be far too familiar with this cowardly bet-hedging on immigration. Smith is trying to create a middle ground where there isn’t one, by showing that he understands people’s “concerns” without actually giving us any policy on immigration or any answers.

The current Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has been somewhat clearer in his stance, though he has little policy to back up a pro-migrant position. Corbyn has been a long-time supporter of migrants’ rights throughout his time in Parliament (Smith has only been in Parliament since 2010) and has consistently engaged with anti-racist campaigns and supported migrants in struggle such as the Tres Cosas workers’ fight for better pay and conditions at the University of London.His constituency has a very high proportion of migrants, whom he has represented vigorously. However, he should be going further in setting out a positive case for accepting migrants on a national scale.

Deborah Hermanns, writing for the Independent online (4 August), praised Corbyn’s statement that all European Union nationals should have the right to stay, not conditional upon membership of the EU. Hermanns also argues that the ability of ordinary people to “access basic services” as well as a “radical social programme” is Corbyn’s response to the immigration question. Hermanns is right to commend these positions, and the concerns of white working-class Brits who are anti-immigration are undoubtedly material — not “just” racist. However, it is essential that he where the left will fight makes this a key issue.

As it stands, immigration is not in Corbyn’s ten basic pledges. Tony Blair espoused the benefits of EU immigration from a neoliberal capitalist perspective and doesn’t regret the expansion of the European Union. He defended this position last year, saying that immigration has brought “net benefits” to Britain.

But immigration from outside the EU is another matter. Blair’s government scaremongered about immigration, called for “tough controls”, proudly spoke about increasing immigration controls and restricted longer-term outside-EU migration to “skilled workers” as well as introducing English speaking tests and a raft of other racist measures. People will also remember Ed Miliband’s reactionary “Controls on Immigration” mug, alongside other PR disasters such as the anti-migrant pledge on the “Edstone”.

Owen Smith’s claims about immigration are unfounded and, along with his criticism of Corbyn’s lack of “patriotism”, leave the door open to reactionary ideas about who “belongs here” and who doesn’t have the right to be here. Corbyn should take him on and expose him for the fraud he is.

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