Protests can’t paper over rich countries’ need for foreign workers

Earlier this month, the UK witnessed protests calling for tighter immigration laws. The protest, which took place in central London, featured polarising figures such as convicted criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, as well as French far-right politician Eric Zemmour and Elon Musk, who addressed the crowd virtually.

The crowd demanded that Britain be protected from immigrants – in particular those seen as Muslim – and their impact on rising prices.

Such anti-immigration campaigns are not limited to the UK. Other Western nations are also wrestling with immigration-driven discontent. This includes Australia, where thousands of people came out in protests last month, as well as the United States, where immigration raids have taken place across the country.

Politicians on the far right vociferously voicing their grievances have certainly played a role in the rise of anti-immigration sentiment. In the UK, Conservative Party politicians such as former home secretary Suella Braverman and current party leader Kemi Badenoch, as well as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, have for years sounded the alarm over immigration in the country.

Yet, this steady stream of anti-immigrant rhetoric does not necessarily correlate with tougher policies on immigration. For example, despite the Conservatives being in power for 14 years, net migration levels during that time were more than two-and-a-half times what they were in 2010, when the Labour Party was in power.

Similarly, despite its anti-immigration views, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has announced it will provide 500,000 work visas for non-EU nationals in the next three years. That is in addition to a pledge of 450,000 such visas between 2023 and 2025.

  

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