Labor Government closes the borders

The intense debate on immigration has changed a figure in the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Keir Strmer starred over the past week, a 180-degree lap on one of the most fracturing stories in his majesty-and in Europe in general. The leader of the British executive has published in his official profile on various social networks a series of blunt statements about immigration and how he plans to correct the « open border experience », by which he condemns conservatives, having gone to the point of calling « betrayal ». On Wednesday he even had a number: “I’ve deported more than 24,000 people who don’t have the right to be here. And I won’t be here ».
Immigration, and its control, has been one of the most controversial debates of European societies in recent years, and given the positions adopted by center-left or social democrats parties, such as the British Labor Party, these stmerus positions may emerge as a surprise. But what is truly the prime minister’s plan to reverse the trend, why did they change their minds in this matter and have the so-called right-wing populism had any influence on this tide change?

Plan for change
Through the publication of a document that extends 82 pages, entitled Restoring Control Over the Immigration System (restoring control over the immigration system in Portuguese), the British government has known its plan to deal with one of the pressing topics of Western societies. The Labor Strategy, which was presented and discussed in the Common House last Tuesday, is divided into seven chapters: 1) «Net Immigration must decrease”; 2) «Immigration, Labor Market and Growth»; 3) «qualified students»; 4) ‘righteous controls’; 5) ‘Respected and applied rules’; 6) « Promote integration and cohesion »; 7) «a system prepared for the future». In addition to the 7 points that make it up, the document also has the introduction of the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister. (The document can be consulted in full at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821aec3f16c065
4B19060AC/RESTORING-CONTROL-OVER-The-Ammigration-System-White-Paper.pdf).

The first paragraph of Starmer is especially poignant, launching a critique of the conservative party that ruled during the last about fourteen years: “In 2023, under the previous government, internal migration exploded to more than one million people a year – four times the level compared to 2019. This was a political choice that was never presented to the British people. In fact, quite the contrary – the previous government repeatedly promised that internal migration would be controlled. Instead, Britain has become an experience of (…) open borders. « The damage that this has caused to our country is incalculable, » he added, underlining the pressure that has been placed by immigration on public services and the housing market – a speech that would recently be associated with reform, a party that has been growing exponentially in the polls, led by Nigel Farage, one of Brexit’s main sponsors. Strmer also pulled from the gallons and said that since he took office in summer last year, “visa requests have decreased almost 40%. But now it’s time to go further and faster to « assure the British people that the experience is over. And that this government will return to the policy of migration to common sense. The use of the expression « common sense », traditionally linked to conservatives, is also revealing the change of paradigm, and reading the word « betrayal » by referring to the British immigration policy of recent years in Keir Stmermer’s official account would be something that little people would have been predicting for a few weeks.

“Island of Strangers”
« In a different nation like ours, and I celebrate this fact, these rules become even more important, » said the prime minister at the beginning of the speech on Monday. « Without them, » he continued, « we are at the risk of becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks together. » The speech caused some stir in the leftiest bangs of the Labor Party, with London’s own mayor, Sadiq Khan comparing Starmer’s words with those of Enoch Powell. Powell was a conservative politician who, in 1968, gave a speech that cost him the position of Secretary of State for Defense. In the intervention that became known as « rivers of blood, Powell said the English risked becoming » strangers in their own country.  » Of course, the British executive is trying to demarcate this association, and Beth Rigby, a journalist at Sky News, wrote that an internal source told him « that the prime minister’s team had not realized the similarity and had no intention of comparing it. » But what does this change completely motivated in Stmerer’s speech? According to André Azevedo Alves, professor at the Institute of Political Studies at the Portuguese Catholic University, the main reason « is the perception that the electorate majority wants a more restrictive immigration policy, which in turn is also reflected in the rapid climb of reform in polls. » Thus, the teacher believes, « Keir Stmerer acts fundamentally motivated by a political survival instinct. »

Utility of populism
Another dimensions of this discussion about immigration lies in populism and its influence on the change in the center’s discourse (and action). « Until very recently, those who enunciated positions such as those now announced by Keir Strmer would be immediately accused of being a dangerous far-right populist, » continues Azevedo Alves, « but the truth is precisely the pressure from the so-called populist forces that forced the political center to meet the concerns of voters in immigration. » Since the growth of populism has been transverse to virtually all of Europe, which has led to debates on how to wage them, the Catholic University professor argues that « only offering concrete and effective answers to these real concerns of voters, » it is possible. Jaime Nogueira Pinto, a writer and politologist, believes that « national-populist movements were the first to draw attention to the political-industrial problems of uncontrolled immigration. » “Now, despite the political correction-they called racists and xenophobes to those who worried and raised reservations to the » bordering « policies-from the center-left center and the socialists, everyone woke up, or pretended to wake up to the problem. Seeing let’s go, ”concludes the politologist.