It is not racist to say change is too much and we need to develop a bold new integration plan to help immigrants adapt to life in the UK
Our freedoms and equalities are part of what makes this country great so we shouldn’t be afraid to insist on them
I HAVE spent the past year writing a report for the Government, travelling around the country talking to people about what’s going on in their communities.
About how we can provide more opportunity for everyone, especially ethnic minorities and those who have been left behind.
About how we can manage the impact of immigration and changes in our population. And about how we can bring Britain closer together, rather than drive people further apart.
Some people call this social integration. I prefer to think of it as helping people to get along with each other better and helping them get on in life.
It isn’t racist or anti-immigration to say that the pace of change from immigration in recent years has been too much for some communities such as Barking in East London or Boston in Lincolnshire.
People are understandably uncomfortable when the character and make up of a town change out of all recognition in five or 10 years.
It’s absolutely true that Britain has been built on generations of immigration, going back centuries.
The diversity this has brought has benefited us all. And no one should be suggesting that Brexit means we should shut our borders to the people we need work in our NHS or to help us grow our economy.
But what I say in my report today is that, whatever the level of immigration now or in the future, we need to do better at helping people adapt to life in the UK when they arrive and helping all of us who are already here to get to know each other better.
That doesn’t mean everybody has to be the same or support the England cricket team.
And it doesn’t mean we go back to the worst of a ‘multiculturalism’ that celebrated our differences and not what we have in common.
It means we all have a common sense of what it is to be British and what are common values, rights and responsibilities are. Our freedoms and equalities are part of what makes this country so great and so attractive to others.
So we shouldn’t be afraid to insist on them.
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It means we get more support to the areas most affected by immigration, for their schools, hospitals and housing.
It also means more English lessons for new immigrants or those who have been here for years but still don’t share our common language.
It means more opportunities for young people to mix with those from different backgrounds.
And it means doing more to help women, who are still held back by sexist attitudes and segregation in some communities, to have the confidence to be fully independent and work if they want to.
We need a new bold integration plan and one everyone who lives here can be proud of and unite behind.
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Has immigration changed your town for the better or worse?
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