May 2025: Restoring Control over the Immigration System
White Paper: This is the White paper: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821aec3f16c0654b19060ac/restoring-control-over-the-immigration-system-white-paper.pdf
PMâs speech: This is what the Government said about it:
Responses from Migrant Voice, Right to Remain, BID below :
Right to Remain: Keir Starmer â come and join us. We are building a community of radical solidarity, care, compassion and dignity.
Yesterday, Keir Starmer unveiled Labourâs immigration white paper, while using very divisive language that scapegoats migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum. The paper outlines what the Government plans to do while they are in power. We will publish a separate blog about whatâs in the paper later.
The Prime Ministerâs speech and his foreword to the white paper draw a bleak picture of migration â that it risks the UK turning into an âisland of strangersâ and that it has caused âincalculable damageâ to the UK. The white paperâs specific content of course raises many concerns â namely to make migrantsâ lives hard and the Hostile Environment even more hostile. Scapegoating migrants is not to address the deep inequality the UK is experiencing: it is the successive governmentsâ political decisions that are worsening our housing crisis or overstretching the public sector. This hostility was, however, expected. Since they came into power in July last year, the Labour Party has been busy boasting about increasing immigration raids, detention and deportations; threats that have terrified our communities.
What strikes us as most alarming is that the Prime Ministerâs telling of the story of immigration in this country is far from what we witness on a day to day basis across the UK. Sure, the same speech is peppered with statements such as âMigration is part of Britainâs national storyâ. But we doubt if anyone will be paying attention to such platitudes: the inflammatory tone of his speech has already earned a shameful accolade as a contemporary version of the infamous rivers of blood speech by Enoch Powell.
Again, whatâs missing in all of this is migrantsâ own voices, experiences and views. We are always talked about as numbers but the politicians donât want to talk to us as human beings. This must change.
This speech has an immediate, negative impact on our communities of migrants, refugees, people seeking asylum, as well as our allies. We stand in solidarity with everyone who is affected by the Prime Ministerâs divisive language and is worried, anxious and scared about what is to come. It is natural for us to despair when it looks like nothing has been learned from the terrifying experience of the race riots last year, the violence that was encouraged by the governmentâs hostile rhetoric and practices that pitch communities against each other.
And our message to our communities is this: remember that we are not alone â there are many of us fighting for migration justice. For example, Right to Remain has directly engaged with 1,000+ groups and institutions across the UK over the last three years alone, all united with our desire to build a stronger migration justice movement. What we see is not an island of strangers: we are witnessing a growing community of radical solidarity that is choosing to manifest care, compassion and dignity. We wish Keir Starmer would come and join us. Yvette Cooper is of course invited too.
Right to Remain will be holding an online mutual-support space next week, to reflect together on this latest development. We will share more details via our newsletter, so stay tuned.
Migration is life. No one is illegal. These walls must fall.
In the meantime, we are sending you love and solidarity, as always.
Right to Remain team
13 May 2025: BID response: âDoubling down on division”: BID Statement on Immigration White Paper Announcement
The government launches its hostile immigration policy in xenophobic speech.
Relying on divisive language, xenophobic rhetoric and racist stereotypes, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has launched Labourâs hostile and immigration policy.
In his speech the Prime Minister claimed the UK risks âbecoming an island of strangersâ, a chilling echo of Enoch Powellâs 1968 Rivers of Blood speech, which stated the UK population had found themselves âstrangers in their own countryâ due to migration.
From blaming migrants for the strain on public services to portraying them as a threat to jobs, safety, and social cohesion, Starmer has doubled down on division and the dangerous lie that migration is destroying the UK.
Public services are in crisis because of years of austerity, privatisation, and political choices, not because of migration. Starmerâs proposals ignore the reality that migration is essential, and acceptance, belonging and compassion are the cornerstones of a united and cohesive society.
Targeting students, long-term UK residents and care workers; separating more children from their parents, and attacking human rights legislation is clearly not in the public interest and does not address the true causes of inequality.
We are deeply concerned that rather than challenging far-right narratives, Starmer is legitimising them and trying to score cheap political points, risking further racial violence in the UK.
The last few years have shown that when we come together, cruel government policies such as the Rwanda plan can be resisted and that people in the UK will stand up for their communities.
Whatever the next few years bring, we will continue to resist these harmful narratives and fight for justice.
Pierre Makhlouf, Legal Director at BID said:
âTo claim the UK risks becoming âan island of strangersâ while deliberately fuelling division and setting communities against each other is not just hypocriticalâitâs reckless and dangerous. By echoing the rhetoric of Enoch Powell, the Prime Minister risks inciting racial tension and violence. Across the UK, people are organising against division, resisting, and standing up for justice, solidarity, and welcome. That is the country we believe inâand that is the future we are fighting for.â