The Real Meaning Of "New Labour" and Why It Isn't Working

My post of 21 October asked why there should be apparent censorship of the Migration Watch organisation's website though access "Denial" on the computer system of the local library. Needless to say, I've had some unhelpful email correspondence with the Department of Media, Culture and Sport on this matter. I should point out, however, that access to the British National Party's website and other material of that ilk is available on the same public library computer system.

Since last week, a former Downing Street speech writer, Andrew Neather, has stated that unrestricted migration to the UK, with the aim of socially engineering a more diverse and multi-cultural population, has been a deliberate policy of New Labour.

In fact, non/de-regulated labour markets of the kind linked to unfettered migration are strongly associated with socio-economic polarisation, which is precisely what has happened in this country. The beneficiaries are people like Attorney-General Baroness Scotland who can engage domestic staff without necessary work permits at less than the going rate of pay. By co-incidence an almost identical case occurred in the United States during the former Clinton administration, and the senior legal figure involved had to resign, as the Baroness should have done.

New Labour's policies on migration were very much an importation from the United States, and have contributed significantly to the property market bumble and associated construction boom of which we are now experiencing the downside. In short, the economies of countries where excessive migration took hold became over-heated to the point of boiling and then melted down. So ultimately migration was not the boon to endless economic growth which its advocates had predicted.

Moreover, it has had a serious social downside. Mass migration has put very substantial pressures on many local communities across the country. Far from creating the a more pluralistic and multi-cultural society - of the kind I happen to support - it has had precisely the opposite effect. Many migrants are people of a narrow economic and social focus, who are not really interested in becoming part of British society, and, indeed, some embrace cultural values which are precisely the opposite of the tolerance with which we like to pride ourselves.

In short, New Labour's policies on migration have been a failure both economically and socially. They have substantially contributed to the rise of the BNP, and created a legacy of problems which future political administrations will be hard put to sort out.