Are people that want zero immigration racist?

[equalstime]

People that moan about migrants coming to this county - taking our jobs - taking our houses - draining the medical system - not settling in the first country they reach for asylum- they're racist right?

There will always be an element of migration and when you take account of UK born people that leave and non Uk people that enter our country, the net figure is no doubt reasonable. They are often willing to work and contribute to our society and economy - so why the hostility?

Why not accept as a country that we have en element of migration and embrace that, if not because your views are racist?

We desperately need immigration to keep essential services running and to pay taxes. Falling birth rates combined with an ageing population is not good. All those state pensions, all that NHS healthcare, all that state funded elderly care - we need taxes to pay for all that. Who's going to pay if birth rates are falling?? We need loads and loads of young people from wherever we can get them.

As for the channel asylum seekers - quite frankly if you've managed to travel here from half way across the globe from a war torn country, then good on you!! You are likely to be a very resourceful and dynamic person, which is exactly what the economy needs!

I think UKIP argued for that a while ago.

But sadly, Brexit, based mainly on a racist agenda saw us lose hundreds of thousands of high quality, highly qualified European public service staff. Doctors, nurses, teachers, radiographers, physios, social workers, paramedics and many more besides.

We desperately need immigration to fill roles that are now leaving huge gaps in hospitality, retail, care etc.

The problem was never the immigrants - it’s over a decade of decimation of public services through a philosophical austerity and creeping privatisation where profit is put ahead of quality provision.

Not necessarily racism. Often xenophobia which is its more complex cousin. But immigration is a hot topic. It's necessary but can also cause problems.

Most reasonable people are not against controlled immigration but unfortunately we can't accommodate everyone who wishes to come here. Have any of you recently tried getting into the likes of Australia, NZ, Canada etc, unless you have something to offer these countries you have no chance. Does that make them racist?
We just don't have the infrastructure to admit half the world and I would bet a months wages that those who scream racist at those who disagree are the same lot who complain that the NHS, Schools, public services and housing are on their arses

There is legal immigration and there is illegal immigration. Most people are perfectly ok with the first. But these two very different issues often get lumped together for some reason.

I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I am very pro immigration - we desperately need people (so we’re told) to fill various jobs that no one else will do, and I like the melting pot of different cultures the UK has become.

On the other hand, it hugely saddens me that we’re destroying wildlife and thousands of acres of countryside by building lots of homes on green belt land to accommodate our huge and ever increasing population.

I also worry about immigrants who do come to this country ending up in very exploitative roles - earning well below minimum wage and living in sub-standard housing accommodation - simply to cater to the whims of lazy and entitled Brits.

People should be able to move anywhere they want but they should be able to work and pay towards whatever country that is. Saying that health immigration is real and it’s awful people don’t have decent healthcare systems in their own countries

Isn’t it a bit racist though to want people from other countries to come her and service us by doing the shit jobs no one living here wants to do?

“This little island is full” is UKIP propaganda.
Do a bit of research about country landmass and population density. It’s just not true. Ignorance is tiring.

draining the medical system?? do people know that visa holders need to pay £1000 per year for the medical system before they enter the UK?
on top of the visa fee.

And some people in this country are too lazy to work.
they are not willing to work in heavy-duty or low-paid jobs.
many companies cannot hire people now.

plus, lots of skilled jobs, professional etc
the fact is, the UK need outsiders!

immigrants work hard and pay taxes in this country.
before Brexit, they need a 35K salary to apply working visa. I think it is a pretty high standard.

or to invest 250K to get a visa.

or pay a very high fee to the school.

So as an American, how am I paying my own way?
I work, pay taxes. So do most immigrants of any race.
Most immigrants aren't eligible for benefits, not that the DM would tell you that.

You don’t really need to do research though to see the amount of building that is going on all around. I hate seeing houses and roads built on fields and wildlife habitats destroyed. The world is facing a terrifying environmental and climate change crisis and building more and more homes is only going to exacerbate the problem. It’s very worrying.

Many people do want to preserve a sense of racial and cultural identity. However, I think what really worries them is overcrowding. This country is unbearably crowded - certainly where I live. The roads are a nightmare, and horrible new build rabbit hutches keep being jammed onto every available scrap of land.

Another thing that really worries people (and they are right to be worried) is who we let in. If you let in an Indian surgeon or a Canadian professor, they are likely to be intelligent, civilized people who will enrich your country. If you let in a violent pimp, or a drug dealer, they are going to make your country worse. It's as simple as 1+1. The left seem to think every immigrant at Calais is a poor frightened refugee. I'm sure some of them are. I don't doubt that there ARE genuine refugees. I'm also sure some are not. The vast majority of people who cross the channel are young men. Where are their wives and children and parents? Do they have any? Have they abandoned them? These undocumented migrants are an unknown quantity. We have no idea who they are or why they left their country of origin. I'm sure human rights groups teach them what to say to get through the asylum system, but the real reason they left may be more sinister. Maybe they are wanted for rape in their home country and that is why they left. Or maybe they are criminals who see the UK as easy pickings.

Let me add that I'm aware WE can make awful immigrants. I have a lot of sympathy for Spanish people who resent Brits moving to Spanish coastal towns, getting drunk, urinating in the streets, not bothering to learn the language, etc.

I'm an immigrant myself, so I would be a hypocrite to argue against it. I believe in controlled immigration at a sustainable level which is supported by adequate provision of services and infrastructure, so the domestic population is not forced to compete for a shrinking piece of the pie (i.e not how it's currently done).

However, while some people are racist or xenophobic in their views, it is also fair to say that all people of whatever background take up space, need services, housing, jobs etc. That's not racist, that's practical and addressing those needs should go hand in hand with any immigration system.

Thank you for proving the OP's point

What are you talking about, we don't have decent healthcare systems in this country anymore. Have you not seen all the threads about waiting 12 hours on the ground for an ambulance, or seven million people on waiting lists, or the lack of NHS dentistry, or our cancer survival compared to our neighbours? This is nothing to do with immigrants, there's a higher percentage of immigrants working for the NHS than in the general population, its everything to do with government. Immigrants can't even vote so its definitely not their fault.

ask Boris Johnson where is the extra £350 million a week to spend on the NHS?

Obviously its not racist. If some fool wants zero immigration then they also want to exclude people of the same race as themselves as well as all other racial groups. I'd say it's more xenophobia than racism.

Yes but these people are already in the world somewhere. If they didn't need a home to live in in the UK, they'd need a home built somewhere else. Land somewhere would still be built on.

Posters who are so concerned about over population and too many people here, I assume you all choose not to have children?

Yes. I did.

And thank you for proving Theroad’s point.

Note to self and everyone else reaching their 60’s please remember to top yourself because you’re absolutely no worth or use to the great British public and have obviously ‘bled’ the country dry. I wonder what the people posting this shite will do when they become ‘old’

But how do you know they don’t have homes elsewhere already? Also, there are over 3 million empty homes in Spain alone, for example. So why do we need to destroy countryside and wildlife in this country to build thousands more?

www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/23/europe-11m-empty-properties-enough-house-homeless-continent-twice

I would be very happy to see brownfield sites developed and people (immigrants or otherwise) housed on those. But as we all know it’s far easier and cheaper for property developers to build on fields.