Tories chase Ukip in anti-migrant rhetoric

31 October 2014

Defence secretary Michael Fallon has said that British towns are “swamped” by immigrants. The comments come as the Tories panic over the threat of UKIP. Fallon said that some UK towns were “under siege” from “huge numbers” of migrants, an echo of previous discourses on migration.

In an interview with Sky News, Fallon said that “The Germans haven’t seen our proposals yet and we haven’t seen our proposals yet, and that’s still being worked on at the moment to see what we can do to prevent whole towns and communities being swamped by huge numbers of migrants. In some areas of the UK, down the east coast, towns do feel under siege, [with] large numbers of migrant workers and people claiming benefits, and it’s quite right we look at that.”



The comments come after David Cameron has vowed to makes changes to the condition of freedom of movement within the UK’s EU membership terms. Angela Merkel, in contrast, has stated that “Germany will not tamper with the fundamental principles of free movement in the EU”.

Fallon’s language has been criticised across the political spectrum, with Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat energy secretary saying that Fallon’s comments were “based on the Conservative concerns of the Ukip threat in the Rochester byelection” rather than any reality about immigration. Douglas Alexander, shadow foreign secretary, said that the comments reflected “the desperation of the Conservative party”.



As Ukip gains ground the discourse on migration is shifting increasingly rightwards. Despite a litany of research disproving prevalent myths around migration, cynical electioneering means the political debate is dominated by anecdote and hearsay.

An IER publication, Labour Migration in Hard Times: Reforming Labour Market Regulation highlighting the benefit of migration to the UK and the propensity for migrant labour to be exploited, is available now.