The need for a positive and humane immigration policy is needed now more than ever

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

As many in the party (including several of the leadership candidates) have rushed to say that Labour needs to re-evaluate our position on immigration – isn’t it time that Labour, rather than becoming an anti-immigration party, begins to make the positive case for immigration?

Whilst many might argue that difficult financial conditions such as these demand a tightening of immigration law, we should look instead at the economic case for immigration. Crucially as we argue that we need to grow, not cut, our way out of recession, we need to look at the impact of immigration on growth. As the Financial Times reported on Friday. Tory plans to cut net immigration will have a knock on effect on growth (limiting output by as much as 1%, and costing £9 billion in lost revenues per year) that will only increase the cuts likely to be unleashed in the budget this week.

David Miliband alluded to the changing face of the immigration debate at yesterday’s BAME hustings when he said, “The debate about immigration isn’t only about race anymore.” He’s right – often areas with incredibly low levels of immigration, such as the North-East where I was brought up, are those in which we as Labour activists find it to be a major talking point on the doorstep. However, in the areas of North London where I spend most of my time, and where immigrant communities are much more visible, immigration is a limited issue on the doorstep, secondary to housing, good schools and jobs. In many ways concerns over immigration are a proxy for fears of job/home insecurity or change, we should accept and work on the former – but when we accept fear of change in society as legitimate we betray our progressive ideals and allow for the kind of negative politics that let us down in the long run.

We have an opportunity to build an alternative vision, and an alternative argument, that says immigration is something which is crucial for prosperity – rather than immigrants “taking” jobs and houses – their presence and economic activity is helping to propel growth that will provide the houses and jobs that we need – and the pensions that my generation probably can’t otherwise afford.

As an island nation, migration, both incoming and outgoing, is quite literally in our DNA, and so many people from so many countries wish to live here because of the economic prosperity and prevalence of our language that our empire helped to acheive. To deny those who would help our economy grow, whilst giving them a chance for a better life, the opportunity to contribute, is both financial folly and morally dubious to say the least.

One of the aspects of the Labour party that I admire and respect most has been the willingness to take on unpopular causes – with equalities legislation being the most notable, and making the case relentlessly and confidently. This is the approach we now need to take on immigration. We need to accept where we went wrong – not just in the crude and bureaucratic terms of “caps” and “quotas”, but in moral terms. We need to say that leaving people to live on just £10 per week, or locking up children innocent of nothing more than having the passport – is wrong. That’s the kind of mistake I’d like our candidates to be admitting.

The people who rely on us to defend them – working class communities of every conceivable background, race and culture – need homes and jobs. An economically factual, growth driven immigration policy won’t provide them on it’s own – but it might be a start.