My assessment of the situation facing the UK with regard to immigration and its consequences

One of the main arguments that those people who are anti-immigration have is that immigrants create unnecessary competition for jobs and that they themselves may get jobs when currently (October 2010) there are 2.45 million British people unemployed (7.7%). However they often overlook the fact that some of the jobs being taken are menial and/or low paying positions which natives sometimes do not wish to perform.

The issue of national identity is reflected in claims regarding ethnicity: the immigrants fail to assimilate into the original population, and replace its culture with their own. National unity arguments emphasise language use and isolation: the immigrants refuse to learn the local language and isolate themselves.

They also say that immigrants over use our social welfare systems, such as public school and the NHS, so called ‘health tourists’. Despite this, there are systems in place to not give immigrants unprecedented access, for instance only being eligible after a lengthy period of time. In particular, we have seen moves from David Cameron who is trying to pass laws to ensure that migrants can only use our health system having paid tax for a certain number of years.

However, this does not address the issue of refuges who have left their own country due to danger to themselves or family. During British history, we have developed a reputation as a ‘save haven’. This means that we get thousands of refuges trying to apply for entrance into the UK. This is also a controversial topic as their stories are often difficult to verify and who is anybody to make the decision over peoples lives.

Immigration is a contentious issue, as much today as it was 10 years ago, if not more so. We cannot limit immigration from the EU, part of the reason why we are against Turkey joining the EU, due to fear of mass immigration. It also seems rather wrong to put peoples’ lives in danger just because they are not deemed serious enough. I think that the only real limit that one can put on immigration is to only allow those immigrants from outside the EU who have skills which we need and who will benefit the economy.