The UK’s latest immigration crackdown back-tracks its commitment to economic justice

Contributions by Alex Webber, UK Policy and Advocacy Manager

The Labour government’s white paper on immigration has dealt a heavy blow to immigrants, with watered down commitments to economic justice and human rights. 

But this latest debacle is not new. In the last several years, immigration rules have been tightened to ‘stop the boats’ – a narrative that is slowly gaining traction globally with an immigration crisis burgeoning from the effects of colonisation. 

Punitive in nature, the white paper has spelled out new caveats including ending care work recruitment abroad by hiring immigrants already working in the country. This essentially ignores an existential economic crisis with a broken care work system heavily supported by immigrants. This continues to disproportionately impact women’s social protection rights even within the UK. 

Globally, immigration policies have been known to be harsh, often violating human rights against immigrants and not acknowledging the real cause of migration flows. In the UK alone we have witnessed how immigrants seeking asylum from conflict prone countries have had their human rights violated in a system that now abets detention rather than protecting asylum seekers. 

While the Labour government rescinded the Rwanda Asylum plan in a move that was echoed as quite progressive and signalling efforts towards a more humane immigration policy; these have now been whittled down with this far right sentiment from the Prime Minister. 

Europe’s immigration policies have largely catered to far right demands through harsher border control with politicians largely leaning on populist sentiments blaming immigrants for broken public services and crime. Online misinformation has also been an enabler of anti-immigrant sentiments with targeted attacks as observed in the UK in hotels and mosques. 

Economic injustice has been a recurring theme around the UK’s shifting immigration policy. Punitive immigration rules have an impact on economic justice especially when they turn a blind eye to how immigrants contribute to the economy. 

A recent documentary by BBC Africa showed the plight of care workers and how unscrupulous job agents and recruiters have continuously abused the visa system to swindle potential workers by promising non-existent jobs. This latest injustice offers a glimpse into an immigration policy that has failed to cushion and safeguard immigrants from abuse- with many victims being women. 

Economic injustices emanating from excessive immigration rules are a gendered issue impacting women. According to the UNHCR, women and girls make up around 50 per cent of asylum seekers with those who are stateless, unaccompanied or pregnant being the most vulnerable. 

In the UK, care work has been a core sector importing labour from overseas and allowing asylum seekers with permission to gain employment opportunities as they settle. Simply put, care work while essential to the economy by employing a substantial workforce is still undervalued with research from the OECD indicating it contributes 5-10 per cent of GDP in most developed economies. 

Care workers also provide a vital service in a sector that has traditionally not been able to fill roles in the UK. In this latest development, care providers have called the decision short-sighted, saying it will cause shortfalls in care, with no funding or alternative plan to fill the gap.  

Linking to the broader care agenda, such shortfalls will put extra pressure on women when they meet their existing care responsibilities for children, older relatives and others. This paints a bleak picture for the future of decent work with proper protections and flexibility around their care responsibilities. 

It’s about time the UK renews its approach to immigration policy shaping and adopts a progressive rights-based approach that centres gender equality and substantially care work’s contribution to the greater economy. 

This would be a policy that recognises women make up the majority of care workers globally with the potential to migrate abroad and the need to safeguard them from exploitation. These workers would also still be entitled to permanent residency status due to their essential contributions to the economy. 

Family reunification should be a key component in any immigration policy especially with the UK’s commitment to gender equality and families at risk of separation due to their immigration status. 

Lastly- a progressive policy would also integrate core services to support immigrants such as affordable housing, childcare with language and vocational training for their employability.  

The white paper fails to address these integral gender equitable principles that also exist for the greater good of the population when it comes to migration and care work. The push to advance immigration policies that claim to protect the common citizens shouldn’t come at the expense of systems that value care work and promote gender equality overall.