The Conservatives need to move away from a narrow focus on arbitrary and unobtainable net migration targets, and instead welcome immigrants that make a contribution to the economy by ensuring they are integrated into society, a new pamphlet from the centre right thinktank Bright Blue proposes.
The pamphlet, based on intensive discussion with the Conservative party, warns: “Putting an unreliable cap on net migration centre-stage has meant that other measures of competency have been missed and unnoticed. A competent approach to immigration will be one which looks beyond net migration numbers.”
The Conservative party has admitted it will not meet its cap to reduce net migration to the UK to the tens of thousands, but has not yet set out a new policy for the manifesto. The party hierarchy recognises that it cannot repeat a pledge it failed to meet in its first term.
Bright Blue director Ryan Shorthouse and David Kirky suggest David Cameron can build a public consensus around immigration by welcoming those that contribute to the economy, such as graduates, so long as they make an extra contribution possibly though National Insurance.
On integration, Bright Blue examines a ban on council funding for community groups or events aimed exclusively at a single ethnic or religious group.
It also suggests the party needs to focus on the administration’s successes such as the closure of roughly 700 ‘bogus’ language schools, the tightening of the allocation of National Insurance numbers, and the obligation on landlords to inquire about the legal status of prospective tenants.
The authors warn there are political dangers for Cameron in shifting away from his relentless emphasis on immigration last year to a relative silence in the last weeks, pointing out that for most voters immigration remains their number one issue.
Since his speech in November setting out his plans to negotiate a new deal with Europe on immigration, the prime minister has almost entirely switched campaign focus to the economy.
Shorthouse warns that the “Conservative party is guilty of fixating in recent years on trying to appease a minority of voters who are attracted to Ukip’s prominent position on immigration, which is heavily negative about the impact of immigration, and wants to see net migration substantially reduced.”
He insists it is possible to build a new centre-right consensus on immigration that is positive, but acknowledges the cultural fears caused by immigration.
Immigration is an overall positive for the UK economy, but this is no comfort to voters that see local communities change at a rapid pace and fear its impact on culture and social cohesion, he argues.
“It is the perception of change operating at a national level, rather than in individuals’ immediate environment, which most worries the public. In local environments where individuals have more experience of immigrants, this concern is significantly reduced,” the pamphlet says.
It argues that although immigration enhances levels of skills, innovation and entrepreneurialism, it also marginally depresses the wages of the lowest earners and can increase demands on public services in ways which are difficult to respond to in the short term.
It says a more positive agenda from the centre-right to counter the negative discourse that has gripped debate owing to the need to fight the rise of Ukip .
It warns that the Conservative party’s current focus on net migration is problematic because it is unreliable and indiscriminate.
The group urges the party to revive the idea of using fees from visas and citizenship to invest in public services in areas with higher levels of immigration. These fees could be channeled into a fund dedicated to mitigating pressures which immigration can give rise to in specific localities.
Such a fund used to exist in the UK, worth £50m and funded through a levy of non-EU visas, but it was scrapped in 2010.
The pamphlet also says the party needs to recognise the long-term electoral damage pointing out that many ethnic minority individuals still see the Conservative party as “not for them”.
There is a strong memory in many communities of the Enoch Powell “rivers of blood” speech. Some recent measures, such as the government’s crude “go-home” vans, have reinforced the impression that the Conservative party does not welcome immigrants and is not interested in winning the support of ethnic minorities.
