Mixed views on Labour’s immigration and asylum approach

[YesWeCan2026]

Have mixed feelings about this article - what do others think? Link: https://www.opendemocracy.net/labour-andy-burnham-immigration-asylum-bill-insecurity-integration-shabana-mahmood/

This country is already over populated so we don't need to make it too easy for economic migrants.

We need economic migrants as UK is a demographically aging society and we have serious labour shortages in many industries.

The Bill’s a bit more in line with other countries’ provision for refugees.

It’s still very generous to asylum seekers. 87 per cent don’t work even after LTR. No repayment of £10,000 will happen.

My worry remains that while the illegal welfare migrant trade grows, genuine refugees are at risk - there’s no way to tell the difference.

In terms of economic migrants, in principle it’s a brilliant idea and everyone owes them. Especially for employers who can pay them less and push wages down. Quids in for the govt who take tax off a young, fit, productive group.

But… UK is far more densely populated than the rest of Europe, so unless the govt does something crazy like build houses, hospitals or schools for the bursting population, it’s prob not a good idea to encourage more hopefuls.

We need children an awful lot more than we need to import adults who stay and don’t pay enough tax for them and their families’ pensions. News flash: low-paid native Brits don’t pay enough either.

We have millions unemployed, we don’t need to import arse wipers.

You have a very simplistic understanding of how labour shortages work. I think you just wanted to make a disgusting comment for the sake of it.

When employers can get overseas workers, and underpay them, why would they employ British citizens?

I think the real issue isn’t whether workers come from overseas or the UK - it’s whether employers are allowed to exploit people. If an employer is underpaying migrant workers, they’re already breaking the law, and that harms everyone by driving down standards for all workers. The answer isn’t to blame migrants or refugees; it’s to enforce employment law properly, tackle exploitation and ensure employers pay fair wages to everyone. In many sectors, such as health and social care, overseas workers are filling vacancies that employers have struggled to recruit for domestically. We should be investing in the UK workforce while also recognising the valuable contribution migrant workers make, rather than allowing bad employers to use exploitation to undercut fair employment.

Totally agree. Exploitation is a part of this, but you can’t argue that wages are in line with inflation, and you have to acknowledge the numerous reasons for that.

It’s much more difficult to enforce employment law when the victims don’t speak English. When I did a NMW job I was horrified by how badly the staff were treated. They had to be told it was illegal to withhold pay and charge them for training. (I grassed the firm up to its HQ who paid).

It’s also very tricky to make the unemployed work. Either someone pays them, which means an employer genuinely thinks they’ll be an asset, and that doesn’t happen often with some people. Or you don’t, which is slavery (why workfare failed). Finally, ageing populations mean more workers with disabilities, more on sick pay, more with shorter careers.

I privately think the NHS should run a parallel speed lane for treating the employed faster so they don’t fall out of the workforce - it only takes a year of illness for you not to return.

Currently, no one actually knows whether native young Brits would become care workers, because the incentives and training are not there - it’s not possible to study your car qualifications from 16, so becoming well qualified is dependent on finding someone to fund you at 18. And lots of care homes would prefer to import someone than spend on training.

This shortsightedness exists throughout the economy, because we do not offer good technical training at the right time and ensure pay and conditions are acceptable. We also don’t regulate private sector organisations that run key functions well.

The immigration system is reflective of lazy government. In the long term, it will cost a bomb to bring in care workers and their relatives (an unlimited number, in the case of the Boriswave - people are still allowed to bring in relatives if they came during that period before the changes and on average people bring many).