The Guardian’s interview with the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, was refreshing, instructive and timely (‘You need solidarity and consistency’: Pedro Sánchez on the EU, Trump and fighting the far right, 3 September). He cites Spain’s welcoming and economically pragmatic approach to migrants, “migration is an opportunity”, and criticises Europe’s paltry and pathetic response to the systematic destruction of Gaza and the denial of civilians’ basic human rights.
This contrasts starkly with other European leaders including, notably, Keir Starmer, a former international human rights lawyer, who in May said that Britain risked becoming “an island of strangers”, and whose government recently announced the cruel suspension of a scheme to reunite refugees with their family members in the UK.
The approach to migration and Gaza is inextricably linked, with both fuelled by the toxic rise in populist nationalism and xenophobia spreading across Europe and beyond.
Sánchez is right to espouse the critically important contribution that migrants make to Spain’s economy, representing “25% of our per capita GDP, 10% of our social security revenues and only 1% of our public expenditure”. The benefits of migration are no less tangible or integral in Britain.
Instead of scapegoating migrants, we should be celebrating them and how they enrich our country, economy and culture; in particular, all those unsung heroes who are the bedrock of our public services and learning institutions, without which we would all be poorer – scientists, researchers, nurses, doctors, teachers, social workers, and bus and train drivers, to name but a few.
Simon Bird
London
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