Uncontrolled Immigration Threatens Social Harmony in the UK
Successive governments have tried to control immigration but that has not worked. There are daily reports of boats crossing the English Channel with hundreds of migrants arriving with greater frequency. Right wing politicians argue that these migrants threaten to destroy your quality of life.
A report by the Centre for Policy Studies, argues that the scale and composition of recent migration have failed to deliver the significant economic and fiscal benefits its advocates promised, while putting enormous pressure on housing, public services and infrastructure. According to Home Office figures, the annual asylum cost reached £3.96 billion in the year up to 2023&mdashdouble that of the previous year and six times higher than 2018.
One, rather selective, analysis showed that seventeen councils are accommodating up to 10 times more asylum seekers than []]local] homeless people. About seven million people from very diverse backgrounds arrived in the UK in the last two decades. Directly or indirectly, this is the result of uncontrolled mass immigration. Such reports and rumours, depending on the sources, do not inspire much public confidence in the border control system and encourage extreme right-wing politics. International asylum laws are being questioned.
It cannot be denied that there is now visible negative impact of mass migration on smooth integration, community cohesion, education, health, housing and other services. Right wing Reform Party is gaining political ground while public opposition to mass immigration is growing.
Yet, UK is a country of immigrants. It is not so much the statistics but visible evidence around us which tells us that uncontrolled immigration is beginning to cause serious environmental and socio-political problems. For example, within an area of about 500 yards square next to the Southall Railway station and Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Park Avenue Gurdwara, there are about ten high-rise flats being built. Each block is about 25 to 30 floors high. With average families of four, that gives us at least four to five thousand men women and children in an over-congested area.
Most of those who have been allocated these flats so far, are people from very different cultures, creeds and countries. It is unlikely that many can speak fluent English. They need interpreters at hospitals and when using public services. So, issues about employment, education, health and smooth integration into the British way of life and values are raised with justification. Mass immigration has made gradual integration impossible. That has prevented successful integration.
When earlier immigrants arrived in the UK, they made special effort to adjust to the British way of life. They looked around and learnt. They worked hard and were known to be law-abiding. Those who were better educated, moved on from menial jobs to work with potential for progress. They did not preach extreme ideologies. They brought up well educated children. They did not throw litter in the streets!
Today, earlier generations are seeing a very different environment and social behaviour in areas affected by mass immigration which has not allowed for smooth integration.
We are looking for security and social harmony in our daily lives. Social harmony has been described as a state of peaceful and cooperative coexistence within a society, characterized by mutual respect, understanding, and a sense of unity among its members. It is essential for a sense of belonging and good and stable inter-community relations in a plural society in which diversity is celebrated.
Only regulated migration will ensure social harmony.
Gurmukh Singh OBE
Principal Civil Servant retd (UK)
E-mail: sewauk2005@yahoo.co.uk
Sikh ideology articles: https://www.sikhmissionarysociety.org/