WITH mass migration set to skyrocket, it’s time to get serious on integration.
New stats from the Office for National Statistics predict that the UK population will grow by 6.6million by 2036, with 94 per cent of that being down to immigration.
GettyWith mass migration set to skyrocket, it’s time to get serious on integration[/caption]
AFPA record 45,755 people crossed the channel on small boats in 2022 , with an additional 29,437 in 2023[/caption]
The ONS has projected that between 2021 and 2036, a whopping net figure of 6.1million international migrants will move to the UK.
This is compared to only an additional 500,000 people from births.
These shocking figures mean we can no longer shy away from having the more difficult conversations about the impact of migration on Britain.
It is clear migration is here to stay.
Last year we learnt that net legal migration to our shores was a record 745,000 in 2022, the vast majority of which was from countries outside the EU.
In the same year, we saw a record 45,755 people cross the channel on small boats, with an additional 29,437 in 2023.
The debate around mass migration thus far has centred around the impact on jobs, housing and the NHS.
That’s all well and good. But there’s a massive elephant in the room when it comes to the subject.
If we are going to see an influx of migrants larger than the size of Scotland arrive on British shores within 15 years, we need to talk about how this will impact social cohesion, community tensions and British values.
It is disingenuous to pretend that migration does not bring with it tensions.
The idea that you can lump people from all around the world together on a small island and everyone will just sit round the fire holding hands and singing Kumbaya is mindless nonsense.
It is also entirely dishonest to suggest that the values, norms and practices of some of those who come to Britain are not at odds with British values.
And the complete cowardice about defending Western liberal values and in asking migrants to integrate into British society has made a farce out of multiculturalism.
The recent pro-Palestinian protests, which saw so many people brazenly and openly spouting xenophobic views born out of Islamist fundamentalism on British streets, was a reminder that too many people are far too spineless to condemn illiberal attitudes imported into Britain.
We saw the same with the Pakistani grooming gangs scandal, where a five-year investigation found that the girls who were preyed on were ignored by police for decades because of fears of increasing “racial tensions”.
Elephant in the room
A review published last month found that girls in Rochdale were “left at the mercy” of paedophile grooming gangs because of these failings.
What causes racial tensions is turning a blind eye to people who refuse to integrate into the country.
In 2018, a Government report on integration published by then Communities Secretary on Integration, Sajid Javid, revealed that 770,000 people living in England spoke no English, or hardly any, with the vast majority being women — most of whom were Pakistani or Bangladeshi.
His comments back then that “there are too many communities that are still very segregated and therefore divided” is truer now than ever before.
And yet we continue to wave people into the country with no real expectation that they respect British values, nor that they even do so much as learn the language.
The Life in the UK test that people have to pass to become British citizens is a laughing stock.
Revising a few questions about Henry VIII is hardly going to solve our integration problems.
It is no wonder we have slowly begun to wake up to some of the downsides of multiculturalism more recently.
This is not about being “anti-immigrant”.
I am well aware of the benefits immigration can bring.
It does a good job at plugging labour gaps for the jobs that British people don’t want to do.
Fruit needs to be picked and old people need to be looked after.
Undermine our ways
However, as a migrant myself who has been a British citizen for only 17 years, I have first-hand knowledge of the good, bad and ugly of multiculturalism.
And anyone who pretends there are no downsides to multiculturalism is either a liar or an imbecile.
If we think tensions around immigration are already high, we haven’t seen anything yet.
The influx of migrants on the horizon will be a ticking timebomb for social cohesion if we don’t start taking integration seriously.
It is entirely fair to expect those who come here to uphold and respect British values.
We should not be afraid to say that, and we should not be afraid to condemn those who undermine the British way of life.
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