UK attitudes on immigration symptomatic of an increasingly insular country on retreat into international isolation

The present febrile atmosphere surrounding the immigration debate has led some to refer to the return of the no blacks, no Irish, no dogs era. This was the time when boarding houses would put up such notices in their windows to warn off immigrants, whilst displaying blatant racism. Irish and Black people have been on the receiving end of British racism for centuries. The treatment of dogs has probably improved! Most recently there were the Irish, who came to build Britain's roads, work in the NHS, teach in schools and a wide range of other occupations. Famously, there was then the Windrush generation, recruited from the Caribbean to work on the likes of London Transport. They were, in turn, vilified and abused. The most recent discriminatory acts came with the return to the Caribbean of many of these hard working people, who had made a home here, at the behest of an ungrateful British state. The Irish ofcourse suffered a further wave of discrimination throughout the conflict in the North of Ireland. Generally, the Irish were regarded as a suspect community. So what has brought the country to the present impasse, where a Home Secretary seems determined to treat all migrants as suspect, with the most desperate (asylum seekers) seemingly labelled criminals? Are even the Irish, born outside Britain safe? There have always been racist tendencies in Britain, towards incoming migrants, as alluded to earlier. But the genie was really taken out of the bottle, with the Brexit vote. This was largely achieved on anti-migrant, anti-European sentiments. The likes of Reform leader Nigel Farage and Tory leader in waiting Boris Johnson helped convince the population that their problems were largely caused, not by austerity policies pursued by Coalition and Tory governments, but Europe and particularly migrants. This myth was also fostered by a right wing media, whose ownership were also keen for the UK to leave the EU. The leave vote was seen as vindication for the take back control of our borders and sovereignty crowd. It was though also seen as beginning of open season on migrants, as the indigenous population turned everywhere more inward on itself. Fast forward a few years and the cheerleaders for Brexit are once again banging the anti-migrant drum. This has led to the absurd position where many in the population consider immigration one of the top issues effecting their lives. Not, poisoned waterways, a crumbling NHS, a fifth of children living in poverty and an under- resourced education system but a few people coming in on boats seeking refuge. The 38,000 who have arrived on British shores via the boats this year represent less than a full Premier League football stadium. It is not an invasion, neither is everyone coming a criminal set to prey on the innocent. What is required is safe routes and a speeding up of processing claims. The ludicrous efforts of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to stop people coming are bound to fail. She talks of push and pull factors. Never mentioned are the push factors of war and climate change.These are not being countered, indeed, British arms companies contribute more than their fair share to fuelling conflict around the globe. Other countries like Germany and France, let alone Turkey take far more refugees than the UK. Then their are those who come to work, filling skills shortages amid an ageing and increasingly sick population. And the overseas students who over recent years have increasingly funded the further education system. They apparently are also to be targeted by this government. So, TFL workers doing vital jobs on the transport system are to be thrown out because they don't earn enough to meet the latest arbitrary threshold introduced by government. Visit any hospital or care home and see who does the work. It is mainly migrants. The present obsession with creating an even more hostile environment for migrants will backfire. Eventually, many of those with the vital skills needed in the UK will not come here. They will go to more welcoming places, like Canada or Germany. Indeed, little is made in the immigration debate of the thousands actually leaving the UK. Recent figures show this phenomena rising. More widely, the British obsession with immigration shows an increasingly insecure, inward looking country. One seemingly happy to move ever further into isolation in an increasingly interconnected world. So having left the EU, the febrile right also want to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and Refugee Conventions Such moves will have international implications. If undertaken they mean more isolation A reminder to the flag wavers: Britain does not and has not had for sometime an empire, nor does it have the power of somewhere like the US to go it alone. As Britain moves further in to isolation, Ireland moves in the opposite direction, putting itself at the heart of the EU and other international bodies. Yes, there are concerns about immigration in Ireland but nothing of the order of Britain. The Home Secretary faces substantial opposition, from both inside and outside Parliament, for her latest package of draconian measures. Irish born Labour MP Damien Egan put it well, when he said: "Controlling our borders and knowing who comes here is essential, not least to integration. "What can the Prime Minster say to my constituents that will give them an assurance that the reforms that he and the Home Secretary are proposing - which I support- will be firm, but also fair?" What needs to happen is for the case to be made for immigration, rather than follow down the Reform UK direction of travel. A more balanced debate could in the longer term take some of the heat out of the discussions and just maybe focus on dare I say it more pressing issues. Ofcourse, there needs to be a functional system for coming and going from the UK, securing borders, but not the frankly racist constructs now being contemplated. Meantime, where is that Irish passport?