The government is curiously quiet on the impact of immigration on wages. When we took to the streets 30 years ago, it was a different story
Phil Hall
Is the government is being completely honest in the rhetoric it uses to justify its open-door policy for immigrants from the former eastern bloc? Hazel Blears, in her visit to Boston in Lincolnshire, focused on busting the myths around immigration, the myths that immigrants are a burden and the myths surrounding immigrants and crime, social housing, social security and health. But she doesn't mention inflation.
Speaking in Bradford in June 2005, the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, was clear about one of the main benefits of the recent immigration:
"Immigration has reduced wage inflation. The inflow of migrant labour, especially in the past year or so from eastern Europe, has probably led to a diminution of inflationary pressure on the labour market."
In the Lord's report (pdf), Professor Nickell is quoted as saying: "There is certainly a broad acceptance in the UK ... that immigration has had a tendency to reduce inflationary pressure."
Gordon Brown makes no mention of this economic benefit when he announced his refusal to cap immigration this April. Controlling inflation is one of the holy grails of economists like Brown; you would think he would single it out.
Bob Rowthorn, Professor of Economics in Cambridge writing in the Telegraph in 2007 puts it plainly:
"The most affected [by immigration] are likely to be previous immigrants, many of whom belong to ethnic minorities. For those who can afford to employ nannies or cleaners or builders, the impact of immigration will be largely beneficial, because it increases the pool of available workers and keeps their wages from increasing."
And it is also ironic that, together with their work ethic, some of the new east European immigrants also bring with them the same unreformed attitudes towards race, which Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League fought so hard to eliminate.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, we weren't thinking about the advantages of immigration to employers and how immigration prevents wage-led inflation and creates flexible labour markets.
At a time when the National Front was getting stronger, Rock against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League helped to change the attitudes of a lot of young people in London and the rest of Britain and make racism and fascism deeply unfashionable. Music and the NME lead the way. Musicians like the Clash, Tom Robinson, Elvis Costello, Steel Pulse, Aswad and Misty in Roots brought us together at concerts and allowed us to show how much we appreciated each other, despite ethnic and cultural differences.
But it wasn't only about dancing together in the parks, universities and polytechnics - as Rupa Huq said on Cif yesterday, there was an common enemy, growing ever more powerful, to be routed. The National Front was strongly opposed by the Anti-Nazi League. The idea was to stop the NF from intimidating local ethnic communities by marching through them. The Anti-Nazi League showed the NF that it would be opposed at every step and ANL demonstrations were serious affairs. The police took their duty to protect the right of the NF to march through ethnic communities very seriously. April 23 is the 29th anniversary of the death of Blair Peach, coshed to death by a policeman on an ANL demonstration.
Once, not that far away physically or spiritually from Cable Street, we tried to stop the NF from marching through Brick Lane and intimidating the Bangladeshi community. The police responded with force. I saw them drag a friend, university lecturer Phil Raikes, away by his hair when he sat down to protest. And as the NF approached, the well-behaved crowd was quickly forced onto the pavements and pushed back against the plate glass shop-fronts by a double cordon of police. I will always remember how the large policeman in front of me suddenly punched a 17-year-old punk girl standing next to me forcefully in her breast. Young people were making a stand against racism and for the rights of immigrants.
But what we were not doing as teenagers on those Rock against Racism marches and concerts and on the ANL demonstrations was fighting inflation. I wonder Gordon Brown could honestly say the same thing about his immigration policy.
Phil Hall
Is the government is being completely honest in the rhetoric it uses to justify its open-door policy for immigrants from the former eastern bloc? Hazel Blears, in her visit to Boston in Lincolnshire, focused on busting the myths around immigration, the myths that immigrants are a burden and the myths surrounding immigrants and crime, social housing, social security and health. But she doesn't mention inflation.
Speaking in Bradford in June 2005, the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, was clear about one of the main benefits of the recent immigration:
"Immigration has reduced wage inflation. The inflow of migrant labour, especially in the past year or so from eastern Europe, has probably led to a diminution of inflationary pressure on the labour market."
In the Lord's report (pdf), Professor Nickell is quoted as saying: "There is certainly a broad acceptance in the UK ... that immigration has had a tendency to reduce inflationary pressure."
Gordon Brown makes no mention of this economic benefit when he announced his refusal to cap immigration this April. Controlling inflation is one of the holy grails of economists like Brown; you would think he would single it out.
Bob Rowthorn, Professor of Economics in Cambridge writing in the Telegraph in 2007 puts it plainly:
"The most affected [by immigration] are likely to be previous immigrants, many of whom belong to ethnic minorities. For those who can afford to employ nannies or cleaners or builders, the impact of immigration will be largely beneficial, because it increases the pool of available workers and keeps their wages from increasing."
And it is also ironic that, together with their work ethic, some of the new east European immigrants also bring with them the same unreformed attitudes towards race, which Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League fought so hard to eliminate.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, we weren't thinking about the advantages of immigration to employers and how immigration prevents wage-led inflation and creates flexible labour markets.
At a time when the National Front was getting stronger, Rock against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League helped to change the attitudes of a lot of young people in London and the rest of Britain and make racism and fascism deeply unfashionable. Music and the NME lead the way. Musicians like the Clash, Tom Robinson, Elvis Costello, Steel Pulse, Aswad and Misty in Roots brought us together at concerts and allowed us to show how much we appreciated each other, despite ethnic and cultural differences.
But it wasn't only about dancing together in the parks, universities and polytechnics - as Rupa Huq said on Cif yesterday, there was an common enemy, growing ever more powerful, to be routed. The National Front was strongly opposed by the Anti-Nazi League. The idea was to stop the NF from intimidating local ethnic communities by marching through them. The Anti-Nazi League showed the NF that it would be opposed at every step and ANL demonstrations were serious affairs. The police took their duty to protect the right of the NF to march through ethnic communities very seriously. April 23 is the 29th anniversary of the death of Blair Peach, coshed to death by a policeman on an ANL demonstration.
Once, not that far away physically or spiritually from Cable Street, we tried to stop the NF from marching through Brick Lane and intimidating the Bangladeshi community. The police responded with force. I saw them drag a friend, university lecturer Phil Raikes, away by his hair when he sat down to protest. And as the NF approached, the well-behaved crowd was quickly forced onto the pavements and pushed back against the plate glass shop-fronts by a double cordon of police. I will always remember how the large policeman in front of me suddenly punched a 17-year-old punk girl standing next to me forcefully in her breast. Young people were making a stand against racism and for the rights of immigrants.
But what we were not doing as teenagers on those Rock against Racism marches and concerts and on the ANL demonstrations was fighting inflation. I wonder Gordon Brown could honestly say the same thing about his immigration policy.
Good to see some oppositon to mass immigration from a voice on the left! Mass immigration is a right wing neo-con anti-Green policy. It is tragic that so many on the left have been brainwashed into believing that opposition to it is somehow 'racist'!
ReplyDeleteIt isn't racist if it isn't selective. It's a complex issue though. Obviously racists and nationalists are against immigration because they are racists and nationalists. Obviously capitalists are in favour of the free movement of Labour because it helps undermine the trade unions and keep wages low.
ReplyDelete