Don’t take the immigration bait

Ahead of the local elections taking place in the first week of May, on 14th April our political system entered a period of ‘purdah’, which is supposed to restrict the Government from making any major policy announcements that could have a bearing on the forthcoming election. 

Cue a contemptuous Conservative Government and the announcement of arguably the most divisive policy of Johnson’s premiership – sending a proportion of inbound asylum seekers thousands of miles to Rwanda to be processed and settled there.

As a reminder that the echo chamber I live in is alive and well, I was genuinely surprised to see this policy poll somewhat favourably amongst the public in snap polls. After all, in addition to the vehement cross-party criticism of the policy (including from the previous Conservative Prime Minister), the Archbishop of Canterbury literally proclaimed that the policy represents “the opposite of the nature of God”. 

Labour must be smart and strategic in the aftermath of this announcement, acknowledging that the subject of immigration often elicits a very emotional reaction from voters in an area that the electorate consistently and overwhelmingly place more trust in the Conservatives on. This was no doubt a factor behind the Government, which is polling amongst its worst level yet and still mired in the partygate scandal, announcing this policy ahead of the upcoming local elections.

Shifting the political narrative to divisive subjects like immigration and Brexit (which the Government have misleadingly cited as enabling this policy) suits the Conservatives at the expense of Labour and it would be unsurprising if they continued to attempt to do this ahead of the general election. The Prime Minister will be aware that this policy will likely be challenged in the courts and may well end up unenforceable, but a protracted focus on this sensationalist policy could end up being very beneficial for him if Labour don’t get this right.

Due to a combination of a calamitous Government and hard work by the Labour frontbench, Labour now have solidified positions of power that they can speak from which are playing very well with voters, as reflected in the sizeable poll leads. The most obvious of these are regarding the character of Boris Johnson and now the cost of living.

It is on subjects like this, which Labour command authority on and voters are rightly concerned about, that Labour should continue to hammer home and squeeze the increasingly uncomfortable and desperate Government on. Indeed, recent events indicate that these areas will continue to be at the forefront of voters’ minds for some time yet.

As for the Rwanda policy itself, it is utterly unethical, internationally damaging and a waste of time/money, with an array of evidence to support each of these points. The UK is better than this in spite of those that are debasing it. Proponents make the argument that there is no better solution being put forward to deal with the channel crossings, but ‘solving’ a problem by both creating even more problems and also not directly addressing the original issue is no rational route to go down.

So whilst Labour must have a robust position against this policy, as Yvette Cooper has laid out excellently, it is important not to get bogged down in constant tit-for-tat with the party opposite given the current context, as much as the Conservatives would welcome this. This will eat into the political airtime which average voters are exposed to and detract from the issues which are leading the Government to plummet in the polls, and increasingly with their own MPs.

The Government cannot be let off the hook for their misconduct and incompetence as a result of desperately injecting immigration into political discourse. They will look for any opportunity to amplify the phrase “same old Labour” on the back of this, however distortionary this is. Conversely, if voters go into upcoming elections resonating with slogans like “one rule for them”, “high tax, low growth” and “Britain cannot afford the Tories” instead, then it will be job well done.

Joe Holden
Lexington Communications