More Tory dog-whistling

General Election 2015 is now on the horizon.  One of the consequence of the fixed term Parliament – a constitutional fix to bind the two parts of the coalition together – is that we can see the  fingerprints of Lynton Crosby their election ‘guru’ on proposed Tory  policy all over the Immigration Bill going through Parliament.

Crosby’s crude dog-whistle tactics have returned the Conservative Party to the ‘nasty’ party. To their relief they can return to their right wing roots.  Creating ‘hostile environments’ for migrants in an attempt to outbid UKIP and appeal to the lowest common populist denominator.

We’ve had ad-vans blazoned with a message and in language reminiscent of  the National Front telling so called illegal-migrants to ‘Go Home’. Blatant propaganda on the streets that seemed to have a narrow focus but which in reality was aimed at keeping immigration on the political agenda. And now this latest policy – albeit with more finessed language fit for the rarefied atmosphere of the Houses of Parliament – has the same underlying strategy, garnering votes generally and specifically those that are going to UKIP.

Creating ‘hostile environments’ is now the name of the game and the Immigration Bill, is part and parcel of this.  Landlords are to be the new border control as they seek to establish migrant’s residency status. Civil servants in the DVLA will also become border control officials as new powers are given to check driving licence applicants’ immigration status.

Other ways of creating this ‘hostile environment’ and make life as difficult as possible for migrants is to restrict access to the banking system and crucially restrictions are to be imposed on using the National Health Service.

Immigration Minister Mark Harper said: “The Immigration Bill will stop migrants using public services to which they are not entitled, reduce the pull factors which encourage people to come to the UK and remove people who should not be here.”

This statement beggars belief.   Don’t just take my word for it.  Research undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that migrants are net contributors to a country. We’ve always known that the NHS that is held up by migrant labour in the wards and in the operating theatres.

Unite health workers and others have already said that they aren’t going to be border guards and we will support them. Restricting access to our health provisions is not only morally wrong it is also pretty stupid.  Imagine the scenario. Scare someone who falls ill and has an infectious disease – TB say. Instead of being treated and if necessary isolated  the disease will spread Who would care about so called ‘health tourism’ then?

As Dr Kailash Chand wrote in a recent piece for the Guardian we need to listen to health professionals not be spellbound by tabloid headlines:

“Denying healthcare to people who need it – including pregnant women, survivors of torture and people with communicable diseases – is both inhumane and unpragmatic. It also contravenes our professional codes of conduct. Ministers who refuse to argue the case calmly on the facts, and instead sell the pass to the fear, will inevitably create public services which can only operate on the basis of checks that result in a divisive system.”

The Bill is back in the House of Commons for its second reading on tomorrow. We want as a country to go forward and not backwards to days we thought we’d left behind. The Labour frontbench should oppose this latest attempt at fermenting division which will be the inevitable consequence of Theresa May’s and Lynton Crosby ‘s wish to create ‘hostile environments’ for migrants.