Labour needs a practical and measured response on immigration and Europe
Anna Sonny, 30 May 2014
Following Ukip’s triumph in the recent European elections, it appeared that the pro-EU case at the forefront of the political landscape in Britain had breathed its last breath.
The televised EU debates between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage, prompted by the Deputy Prime Minister, only served to give Ukip more publicity and more momentum before the elections. The Liberal Democrats, seen as the most pro-EU party of the major three, failed to make the case for the EU and lost all MEPs except one in a spectacular electoral defeat.
Now, in the absence of a solid pro-European argument, former prime minister Tony Blair has come forward to make one.
This Tuesday in an interview on Radio 4, Blair, despite the usual disclaimer about the need for reform, argued that Britain’s membership to the EU is necessary to counter increasing global forces like China and India. Although the bloc was originally established to keep peace in Europe, Blair claims it is now about power, and co-operation in terms of energy policy, research and science and technology.
According to the former prime minister, populist parties like Ukip and the National Front (which came top of the European elections in France) put forward policies that are too regressive and closed-minded to provide any real solutions to 21st century issues.
Following Ukip’s election victory, Ed Miliband has been facing pressure from party members to take a right turn on immigration in order to claw votes back. But Blair said: “For the Labour party, if it tries to follow Ukip either on its anti-European platform or, even worse frankly, on its anti-immigrant platform, all that will happen is that it will confuse its own supporters and will not draw any greater support.”
Prior to the elections, Lord Glasman, one of Ed Miliband’s most senior allies, warned with remarkable foresight that Ukip were a huge problem for Labour; he was proved right when the anti-EU party plucked votes away from Labour in its own heartlands. In response to the criticism surrounding Nigel Farage’s comments on ‘feeling uncomfortable’ about Romanians living next door, Lord Glasman said people were entitled to have concerns about immigration: “It doesn’t do anybody any favours to stigmatise expressions of anxiety.”
Widespread concerns about immigration are usually linked to the practicalities of integration and the ability of Britain’s infrastructure and services to cope with large numbers of people arriving. While these concerns are not necessarily linked to race, questionable comments by some Ukip members have in a sense unpleasantly tangled these two incendiary issues together.
David Cameron’s promise of a referendum on the EU without concrete plans for renegotiation was criticised as being a knee-jerk reaction to pressure from Ukip. Ed Miliband cannot afford to side-step the issues of immigration and Europe; Labour needs to respond but must address these concerns from a measured and practical standpoint – this is what seems to be missing from Britain’s political landscape at the moment.