If you are ever in any doubt about whether people care about politics, just start a debate about immigration. Round the dinner table or down the pub, you will find that your audience does not need much warming up!
In all my surveys with the residents of Smith’s Wood and Castle Bromwich, the topic has topped the table of issues they want me to talk about in parliament. That is why I’ve been urging ministers to table a proper plan for border control that will work – and why I was pleased to see them put exactly such a plan on the table.
For me, this is personal. I am the grandson of immigrants from Ireland who joined the British Army in the late 1930s, served our country in uniform before settling down to work on British Rail. My mum’s family hails from Denmark and built the firm Teisen Furnaces near the old Pilkington plant in King’s Norton.
I think a well-managed system is good for the country. Right now, our NHS and care system are blessed with workers from abroad who save, and change, lives every day. And most people I know welcome the foreign students who pay higher fees than domestic students and have helped keep our universities solvent during the unprecedented and difficult financial circumstances brought about by the pandemic.
But I was also the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration for two years during the New Labour government when I introduced the Australian-style points system, created the UK Border Agency and doubled the budget for immigration policing.
Like most right-thinking people, I believe in rules and rules that are enforced. And what shocked me was learning the extent to which practically all illegal immigration is in the hands of organised crime. And that is why we have to smash the gangs.
So, I agree with the Prime Minister that we must end the open border experiment conducted by the last government and get to grips with these issues that concern our constituents.
But, what is more, we also need to be able to talk about this. When I started the discussion at my recent residents’ meeting in Castle Bromwich, I was a bit surprised at peoples’ reluctance to speak. Like all the big issues in our politics, we must have an open dialogue on this matter to ensure that we create and sustain a migration policy that has the support of the general public, who need to know that the government is listening and working for them.
