Challenging misinformation on immigration must be a priority

Challenging misinformation on immigration must be a priority

Public attitudes towards immigration can make for depressing reading as we see that negative views are increasing. It is not remotely surprising though. People base their opinions on what they are told. When they are fed a constant diet of misinformation, and flat out lies, about immigration, by both elements of the media and politicians, it will obviously lead to them having less than favourable views.

That is the thing with the “immigration debate” in the UK, it is, for a large part, driven by those who are anti-immigration. It is based on, at best, misleading information, and, more often, disinformation aimed deliberately at targeting migrant communities. We rarely hear from those most affected by this debate, migrants ourselves.

We know that many across the country have concerns about the state of things like the National Health Service, lack of suitable housing, the cost-of-living etc. Those are fair concerns, and they are not, despite the rhetoric we so often hear pushed as ‘fact”, because of immigration. That is why we are launching our “Don’t knows do care” campaign to combat misinformation and ensure that migrants experiences and voices are heard, and listened to.

We are constantly told that migrants are to blame for the housing crisis, yet it is rarely talked about how one in 25 homes, more than 1 million, remain vacant. How often is it even discussed when people talk about the UK being “full” that only 1.3% of land in England is used for residential properties, for context undeveloped and vacant land accounts for 1.1%. That does not include agricultural, forestry etc. A lack of housing is not down to immigration; it is down to housing policy.

We have the space to fulfil the government’s proposed commitment of building 1.5million homes, without encroaching on such things as the greenbelt. What we are rapidly running out of are people to build them, and that is where immigration is important. Nearly 10% of the construction workforce is made up of migrants, and with an aging population that number will need to increase if people want houses built. Simply put, migrants are not “taking houses”, we are building them for everyone.

It is the same across so many sectors. How many times do we hear about “migrants being a burden on the NHS” with absolutely no thought to how nearly a quarter of people working in the NHS are migrants? That is before you even start taking into account how the Immigration Health Surcharge, which migrants are forced to pay on top of the taxes everyone else does, accounts for about £1.7 billion towards the running of the NHS. 

Then we have the whole hostile rhetoric surrounding international students, students who help fund the whole higher education system so that everyone else can actually study in it. Currently international fees contribute about £10.3 billion to higher education, money without which universities will be forced to close or cut courses. That by the way is before you look at where else benefits from the money international students spend, such as £690 million for the retail sector alone, or, to put it in a wider context, boosting the national economy to the tune of about £55 billion per year.

We hear the shouts of people claiming “migrants are taking our jobs” as much as anyone else. It isn’t true. Migrants create jobs. There is a thing in economics called the “lump of labour fallacy”. Simply put, it means that there is not a fixed number of jobs in the country. Here is the shocker for so many people who claim that we are “stealing jobs”, we still need to live. That means buying things, that means putting money back into the economy, including our communities. That means more jobs for more people.

It is also demonstrably ridiculous to claim that by restricting migration you will get more native-born citizens to take the jobs. There are more than 100,000 vacancies in the adult care sector alone, the people looking after your loved ones in their old age predominately, and that is before this government’s block on recruiting from overseas even hits home.

Who remembers when the government of the day asked British nationals to help picking fruit and vegetables during the pandemic to compensate for the lack of seasonal migrant workers and hardly anyone came forward? If people fancy “buying British” as we so often hear, then the agricultural sector needs migrants. It really is that simple. 

The obvious rebuttal to all of this is the tired old line “we don’t mean those migrants. We mean these migrants”.  For those who criticise immigration, and have been influenced by the hostile rhetoric aimed at migrants, this distinction is lost however. People do not check what job someone has, or how they arrived, before attacking them. We see the scare stories about migrants all the time in the media, but they don’t reflect the reality of migrant’s lives. Attacking one group inevitably leads to all migrants being attacked, This also contributes to the hostile environment for all migrants, meaning that measures and political rhetoric aimed at one group impacts all of us.

Most migrants already cannot claim state support due to a policy known as “No Recourse to Public Funds”. We, on the whole, pay more into the country than take out at any rate. In addition to this, if those seeking asylum in the UK , which remains far fewer than many other countries, were provided with the right to work it is estimated that, between increased revenue and government savings, this would bring in about £8 billion alone. Meanwhile, just as an aside, the Office of Budget Responsibility estimates that for a 100,000 reduction in migrants, the UK would be looking at roughly a £7 billion  deficit increase. Considering the latest statistics, which came out the day after the November 2025 budget, showed a drop of more than 400,000 from the previous year we invite you to do the math.

People’s lives are not about how much they earn or “contribute” though. None of us, regardless of where we are born, would accept being told we were “lesser than” because of what pay we bring home. 

If you want migrants to “integrate” then maybe telling us how much you don’t want us is not the way to go. After the 2024 far-right riots we saw first-hand how people were scared to go out in public, and that is something which is fuelled by misinformation and hostile political rhetoric. It is repeatedly shown that it is political rhetoric which does the most harm.

We need a change. Not one which sees more migrants told to “go home”, not a system which tells us that we are only worth what we earn. We need a real change, and that starts with combatting misinformation and challenging hostile rhetoric. We are part of this country, we have always been part of this country. It is time to face the reality that migrants are not to blame for the failings of other government policies, and we are not scapegoats to be treated as if we are a “burden”. Help us fight back, challenge the lies, and show why this country is better for everyone when migrants are treated with respect and dignity. Donate today.