Immigration comment from colleague, AIBU

[user2726182]

Name changed.

Myself and a couple of colleagues were talking about the upcoming general election, just about the debates that were on television last week.
Colleague stated she was voting conservatives because she wants brexit (fair enough) but then went on to say it's because of immigration and doesn't want anymore people coming in to the UK because we're a 'small island' and can't home any more people, she went on to say refugees are fine but that's it, then said 'I'm not racist' but just my opinion.

Now my grandparents were immigrants and I wouldn't be here without them coming from Asia, I was a bit offended by her comments.

Aibu?

You have my absolute sympathy. I work with a colleague and it's very very very similar. I'm 3rd generation from immigration (my granddad) so I have to bite my tongue

No ideas on which group will lose out on a points system ???? how about those that come to work in retail?

how about those that come to work in retail?
How do you define that for a points based qualification system ?

It is not racist to be concerned about overpopulation. In fact, these sorts of comments stifle much needed debate about legitimate concerns and have led us directly to Brexit.

Personally, I appreciate diversity and am happy that the UK is, largely, a welcoming set of countries for those who were born elsewhere. However, the UK is more densely populated than most EU countries (bar those which are very small) and some areas, such as the south east, are now so overpopulated that infrastructure, such as housing and transport links, are at crisis point. In my view (and I accept it is an unpopular one on MN), those who says this is untrue are closing their eyes and sticking their fingers in their ears whilst chanting lalalalala.

See this chart for density figures (I believe figures are from 2018) www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=21000 and this article (from the Guardian, no less) www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/24/threat-chalk-streams-unique-contribution-global-ecology about the threat to our very precious chalk rivers. A greater population means a greater demand on water supplies, which people don't appear to consider at all. It just comes out of the tap -right?

Global warming is already here. We are going to be facing all sorts of issues both on a global scale and on a national scale. We should be thinking ahead and keeping our population manageable.

Having said that, clearly we do need some immigration and we should have a generous and compassionate policy towards refugees. But we do need some sort of points system. I don't trust any of the parties to bring any sort of restrictions on immigration whatsoever.

And, just to add, if Scotland or elsewhere need people from outside the UK, then it should be a condition of their entry that they should live and work there. Otherwise, immigrants tend to simply move to those areas which are already overpopulated.

But we do need some sort of points system.
So WHICH GROUPS WOULD YOU BAN
Because unless you say who you do not want its just Xenophobia

The points System is usually based on employment, education, skills and finances that are already accrued.

So it's not saying that people from X country can't come.

Brain I hope you don't have any child to remedy to the overpopulation system?

I always laugh when people use the excuse of a small island. It's not like the other country could extend their border? Like if France was like 'sorry Germany, density is getting too high, we need an extension'.

Someone I know voted for Brexit as they were sick of non-EU immigration... They have themselves immigrated from a Non-EU country (but within Common Wealth Law).

It's not a case of banning any groups. If we need a certain type of worker, then we need them. However, I think we need to be looking carefully at what "need" really means. If companies "need" immigrant labour because it means they don't have to pay those workers who already live here a living wage and provide settled employment, then no, that isn't a genuine need.

We currently need doctors and nurses, but that is because our own government has chosen not to fund training sufficient numbers from those already living here. They should be doing that now, as a matter of urgency.

smalalalalalala - yes, I do have children and I am aware that I am part of the problem rather than part of the solution. But how is allowing more people to come in remotely helpful? Do you suggest that those of us living here should stop having children simply to allow others to come in?

Why is it an excuse to say we are a small island? We ARE a small island! Surrounded by sea, which is likely to take a little bit more land from us due to global warming. The populations of France and Germany are less dense because they are very large in terms of land mass, compared to our land mass. What's so difficult to understand about that?

Phobia is defined as an irrational fear
Overpopulation due to immigration is not an irrational fear but an indisputable fact. The child argument is not relevant because birth rates have a negative impact on population as they are below replacement rate. 100% of population increase in the UK is due to immigration.

(Good posts Brian)

Which immigrants will not be let in ?
By colour or by skills?
If by skills, which skills do we not want ?

NB the 50,000 extra nurses includes importing 20,000 from other countries

I have a very obviously not English name that would mean that clearly our family are immigrants and I would still get people whinging on and on about it around me/at me. One day I pointed it out and they all shut up. Fucking thick bastards

Which immigrants will not be let in?
Those that dont have a job, those that dont have any money behind them, those that dont speak English
If you are so anti an immigration policy do you think we should have an open immigration policy with the whole world?

ListeningQuietly - of course by the skills we need and not by colour! Have you not picked up that my concerns are around numbers and not race, colour or religion?

I don't have a list of the skills we need, but no doubt there is one somewhere. In my view, it should not include poorly paid manual jobs, as the influx of large amounts of people offering cheap labour has already depressed the wages of those already living here at the lower part of the social pyramid. This is precisely why areas in the Midlands and the North, which were once strong labour voting areas are very likely to vote Brexit/Tory in the coming election.

I have already acknowledged that, at the moment, we need doctors and nurses. But why aren't we training our own (meaning those people who are already living here, no-matter where they initially came from).

By the way, do you think it is fair to other countries that we take the brightest and the best from them?

TheDarkPassenger - don't you think you are missing the point?

BrainAche
the skills we need
Care Workers
Food processors
Farm Labourers
Builders
If you stop them coming in from elsewhere, how will you create them?
British kids do not want to pick carrot or wipe old ladies' bottoms

Doctors and Nurses
The NHS has stolen them from other countries since it was created in 1948
why do you think that will change now ?
Boris' plan includes stealing 20,000 from other countries ....

ListeningQuietly, I don’t vote Tory and I’m even less inclined to do so now Mr Johnson is in charge.

The reason why people don’t want to do those jobs is because the pay and working conditions are woeful. Why do we think it’s okay to bring in people from elsewhere to do work we wouldn’t want our own kids to do? We need to pay more - and the people at the top of the social pyramid need to take less. Look what happened in Shirebrook with the Sports Direct warehouse. Labour keep going on and on about how working conditions will be awful if we leave the EU when they are shite for a lot of people right now.

The drive for uni education for all is misplaced. It’s just another money spinning exercise. Many youngsters would earn more and have a more fulfilled life by following a trade. But we no longer respect that choice.

As for simply bringing in others for ever more to staff our NHS, it will have to change, as we have a population problem.

If agricultural labour prices go up, so will food prices - its basic supply and demand.
Pay cabbage pickers 20% more
Cabbages in the shop cost more

As for simply bringing in others for ever more to staff our NHS, it will have to change, as we have a population problem.
Yup, the UK is rapidly ageing - there are not enough young people in Britain to look after the rising numbers of old people

Young fit workers cannot be magicked up
they are not being born in the UK

I’m not from here but can respect her views, I wouldn’t have said it out loud if I were her though! Do I think the same? No. Many people have said stuff like this to me. Two weeks ago, someone asked me why my child was so ‘white’ with light brown hair!! 🤦🏻‍♀️

ListeningQuietly, we aren't going to agree and I'm not the sort to push my views on anyone else. I accept that there is much truth in what you are saying. I would simply ask others to accept that some of us have genuine concerns about overpopulation without accusing us of racism and xenophobia.

For completeness, I don't agree with continual growth, I believe the world might be better off if we in the West were a little poorer, and I suggest we should be spending more on food (subject to the poorer being paid more) and less on plastic tat.

I think I'll bow out now. I've spent far too much time on MN today

ListeningQuietly ok lets keep the boarders open- better yet lets have an open immigration policy with: Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Mexico....everywhere in the world in fact because we NEED workers.
You think the UK has a social care issue now you wait until the 300+ net migrants a year grow old and require care. You ideas are unsustainable.
Cheap labour from other countries has driven down wages, that is a fact.

Curbs in migration isn't the same as being against immigrants though?

I mean, realistically, what would happen to the UK if EVERYONE who wanted to go there was able to? There would be chaos, and the services wouldn't cope with it.

No one country can support the majority of the migrants. The burden of care is too great for their citizens.

I mean, realistically, what would happen to the UK if EVERYONE who wanted to go there was able to? There would be chaos, and the services wouldn't cope with it.

Services
Que
Migrants come here to WORK
THey are the doctors and nurses and porters and cleaners who look after the old fat people born in the country

Without immigrants the NHS would have collapsed long ago

Trump and Johnson have normalised racism