DynamicSpirit
Established Member
I'm not going to deny that persecution is rife in other parts of the world, but to suggest that all of those people are likely to end up on our shores is simply alarmist nonsense, and it's straight out of the Britain First/BNP playbook.
I'm not trying to suggest that everyone from those parts of the World would come to the UK - that's clearly ridiculous. But it's undeniable that a significant proportion of people from poorer countries/people suffering persecution would if they could, and do not attempt to do so largely because it is so difficult. The barriers that the UK - along with virtually all Western governments - put up to make it hard for people to come to live here are regrettably necessary, unpleasant though it is to have those barriers.
What's wrong with wanting to move to a place where economic conditions are better than where you currently live? It's what people have done for thousands of years.
There is of course absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I don't believe I have ever said anything to suggest there is. As you say, wanting to move in order to improve your life is a perfectly normal thing. Probably almost all of us have done or considered doing that some point (albeit, for most of us, not to a different country). The problem is simply that there's no way the UK could possibly accommodate all the people who would move here if they could - which is one reason we have immigration controls.
what difference does it make that some people happen to come from outwith the UK?
Two differences: The likely numbers involved, and the issues of integrating people who may not be familiar with the UK/Western way of life and - because of the culture in which they were brought up - may not share values such as democracy, tolerance, rule of law, respect for women's rights or gay rights, etc. Sweden, for example, appears to have become a rather unfortunate example of what happens when you don't think about those kinds of things.
We have chronic shortages in certain industries while we're effectively incarcerating people who may be able to fulfil those needs. It makes absolutely no sense that we're locking up people who could be an asset to us.
We already have a skilled worker visa scheme to allow people to come to the UK to work in specific occupations for which there is a shortage of workers. If you want to address the problem of specific shortages, expanding that scheme would probably be a better targeted approach.
