Nigel Farage’s proposal to end indefinite leave to remain is not just an immigration stance (Nigel Farage roundly condemned over plan to abolish indefinite leave to remain, 22 September). It is a direct threat to the NHS. Foreign-born staff make up a vital share of our health service workforce. More than a third of doctors and one in five of all NHS workers were born overseas. These are not temporary contributors. They are long-term carers and specialists who have built their lives here and sustained our public health system through crisis after crisis.
To deny them the right to settle is to destabilise the NHS. It sends a message that their labour is welcome, but their lives are not. Without the security of indefinite leave to remain many will leave or never come in the first place.
The consequences are already visible. Waiting lists grow. Wards close. Burnout spreads. If Farage’s proposals were enacted the exodus of skilled migrant workers would accelerate. And when the NHS cannot meet demand the private sector steps in to monetise its absence. Reform UK’s manifesto speaks of efficiency and choice but the trajectory is clear. No migrant workers leads to staffing collapse, which leads to service failure and ultimately privatisation.
This is not reform. It is dismantlement by design. The NHS was founded on principles of universality and care. It has always relied on international solidarity. To strip away the rights of those who serve it is to strip away our own access to care. We must resist this erosion. The future of the NHS depends on valuing those who sustain it.
Danny McCloskey
London
• Nigel Farage says if he became PM he would expel hundreds of thousands of immigrants within five years. He accepts that this would mean leaving the European convention on human rights (ECHR). Instead, he proposes a UK bill of rights which would apply to UK citizens only. However, the former attorney general Dominic Grieve has pointed out that the trade and cooperation agreement (TCA) negotiated with the EU by Boris Johnson and Lord Frost has a clause which requires the UK to remain a member of the ECHR. The implication of that clause is that if the UK does leave the ECHR, then the TCA becomes invalid, and some new arrangement for trade with the EU will become necessary.
In view of how Farage insulted the European Commission during his time as an MEP, it would seem unlikely that the EU would be willing to play ball in arranging a new free trade agreement, so World Trade Organization rules would apply. This would be a disaster for the UK, which could result in many people finding themselves jobless. Has Farage not done his homework, or is he deliberately misleading the population by not telling the whole truth? He is a dissembler, like Johnson, not to be trusted.
Ian K Watson
Carlisle
• In his speech, Nigel Farage made a big issue of the “Boriswave”. As this, and the influx of asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats, has clearly been a consequence of the Brexit he campaigned for perhaps in future articles on immigration the Guardian should refer to the “Farage flood”, although I doubt Farage will admit to any responsibility.
Jan Syska
Caernarfon, Gwynedd
• Nigel Farage’s seemingly inexorable path to Downing Street will indeed be unstoppable, so long as Keir Starmer lacks the courage to overtly condemn Brexit. There was no “small boats crisis” prior to Brexit, while we remained party to the Dublin agreement. The individual on whom blame must be pinned is Mr Brexit himself, Nigel Farage. This needs to be spelled out, loudly and clearly, on every possible occasion. If the timorous Labour leadership dare not do so, then Labour is doomed.
Derek Robinson
Matlock, Derbyshire
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