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We need to be tough on the causes of austerity, not the consequences

In difficult economic times the scourge of racism is once again rearing its ugly head, writes HUGH LANNING

Those who argue for migration controls hide behind talk about skills, language, numbers and over-population. 

In reality we know that they really mean skin colour — are you a Muslim, do you speak English or are you poor and in need of work? 

For once Tony Blair was right when he said recently that we have to “take on this wave of anti-immigration and old fashioned ultra-nationalist feeling.” 

Labour didn’t make a mistake allowing in new EU citizens from eastern Europe. 

It was a conscious decision based on the economy growing and expecting we would need a supply of willing, trained labour. 

The collapse of the banks was not in their plans. There is a graph that sticks in my memory — it is one that shows the UK public debt. 

The line is bumping along at a reasonable level in the early noughties until 2008, then the line shoots through the roof. 

Why? Because millions of migrants and immigrants flooded the country with their debt? No, because the banks collapsed and public money was used to bail them out. 

We need to be tough on the causes of austerity, not the consequences. 

There is not a single shred of economic evidence that indicates that migration and immigration caused the banking failure. 

The subsequent economic problems have arisen because the majority of EU countries have chosen “austerity” as the solution — to make ordinary people and poorer countries pay for the crisis they did not cause. 

In the UK 97 per cent of the public debt that has been paid back is through cuts in public expenditure and services. 

The problems that people are confronted with, and that Ukip is capitalising on — lack of jobs, lack of affordable housing, declining public services — all stem from the chosen path of austerity. 

The response should not have been to cut back on the very services that are needed thereby exacerbating any strains, but rather to invest in those areas most affected. 

It will be politically disastrous for Labour to go down the path on migration controls that some MPs are urging in response to the Euro elections and Ukip. 

Apart from not being able to out-Ukip Ukip, the logic is that if initial controls don’t work, then you need tougher and tougher controls. 

Labour is at risk of shooting itself in not just one, but both feet with one policy. 

This is not just misguided over immigration — it effectively concedes the economic argument on austerity. 

Ukip argues that it is immigration and migration that have caused the economic problems that we face — so we need immigration controls and even tougher austerity policies. 

It was convenient for the traditional centre-right to use this as an additional smokescreen behind which to hide its austerity measures.

For Labour to accept the argument on migration accepts the premise on which it is based. 

The Romanian government has published figures demonstrating that it has lost over 20 per cent of its trained medical staff to other European countries since joining the EU. 

With migration controls we are saying it is OK for us to take the skilled and trained workers from other countries, but we will give nothing back in return. 

Labour has got it right that the lack of protection in the workplace enables unscrupulous employers to take advantage. 

If there was a living wage, not a badly enforced minimum wage; if workers had rights, not zero-hours contracts; if every worker had access to a union we would not be facing the difficulties we do. 

If Labour pledged to address these problems, then maybe the party could start to win back not only those votes that it lost to Ukip but also the young and disenchanted vote.

 

Hugh Lanning is vice-chair of Unite Against Fascism. He will be speaking at the After the Euro Elections — Stand Up to Ukip, Racism and Fascism Conference organised by UAF this Saturday June 14 at the TUC in London. For more info visit www.uaf.org.uk.

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