David Cameron’s continuing crackdown on immigration has had a negative impact on Britain’s image around the globe, according to a UK think-tank.
The Migrant Integration Policy Index is a ranking system that looks at the commitment of countries to the integration of its legal migrants; Britain has fallen 5 places in the last 5 years. The 2015 edition of the Migrant Integration Policy Index, published on June 30, by MIPEX, ranks Britain 15th overall; a drop from 10th in 2010.
The drop has been caused mostly by the introduction of new controls and tougher requirements for immigrants by a government that is trying to reduce net migration. The main change has occurred in the areas of family reunion migration and path to citizenship (usually via naturalization). The index concludes that “now non-EU residents in the UK who want to invest in their integration will face greater hardship and costs than almost anywhere else in the developed world to reunite with their spouses and children or become citizens”.
Described as “mean and heartless” by opponents, changes introduced since Mr Cameron formed a coalition with Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats, which have continued since the Conservatives won a majority in the last General Election, make it much harder for a British husband or wife living overseas to obtain a settlement visa that would allow them to take their partner to the UK on a permanent basis. In the past, a spouse visa was generally granted automatically.
As a result, many British families face being split up, with children and other dependents forced to live apart from their parents and other family members.
In the areas of education, health and employment for immigrants, however, the UK is still performing well although some concerns have been raised over policies that may hinder migrant integration such as cuts in funding to support migrant integration in the workplace and in schools.
Family migration
The UK has the lowest score for family reunion migration among all the countries analysed for the 2015 Migrant Integration Policy Index. This means the UK is now effectively the hardest place in the developed world for migrant families wishing to reunite with overseas family members.
Britain currently requires you to have an annual income of at least £18,600 to apply for entry of Non-EU family members into the country. This is the second highest income requirement in the western world, surpassing France (£10,320) or even the USA (£12,079). More than half of the British population would not be able to meet that basic requirement and reunite with non-EU family members.
Naturalisation and citizenship
The process to achieve citizenship is becoming increasingly difficult, according to the 2015 Migrant Integration Policy Index. The high costs to apply and “good character” requirements together with a more difficult ‘Life in the UK’ test, has led to a fall in the number of immigrants gaining UK citizenship for the first time ever in 2014 – by 40% to 125,755.
Work, Health and Education
Although the UK is still performing well in the areas of migrant integration in the workplace and schools, the Index raised concerns about recent cuts on language support for employed migrants and funding (Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant) for schools with children that do not speak English as a first language.
MIPEX is also concerned about the introduction of health surcharges for immigrants to access the National Health Service (NHS). With some exceptions, non-EU immigrants who are not permanent residents now need to pay an NHS health surcharge.
Anti-Discrimination
Although there seems to be a growing anti-immigration rhetoric, stemming mostly from parties like UKIP, Britain still has the 5th best score when it comes to fighting discrimination.
MIPEX praised the 2010 Equality Act, but the Index raised concerns over recent cuts to funding and mandatory monitoring that might affect Britain’s standing as a country with a historically high reputation for fighting discrimination.
The Index
The MIPEX index does not measure integration itself. It measures how favourable a country’s policies are to the level playing field that would make integration possible.
This approach has limits, and a resetting of the integration debate would need to look at other measures too: how social integration and a shared sense of belonging can be promoted, for instance.
But the results of the new index show just how far integration has fallen down the policy agenda in the drive to reduce migration and cut costs. Can we afford to let it keep slipping?
Back-burner policy?
Since the introduction of the concept by then-Labour home secretary Roy Jenkins in the mid-1960s, integration has not been a priority for successive UK governments. The anti-racist movement and black communities have been suspicious of the term, seeing it as too close to assimilation.
Integration has had little traction on the right either, where there has been distrust for any accommodation with migrants and minorities. Labour started talking about integration under Tony Blair, but usually as a footnote to cohesion or in relation to refugees.
The Coalition government launched an integration strategy in 2012, but it mainly argued that national government needed to leave it to local governments.
In a time when net migration remains high and has transformed the demographic profile of every region of the UK, when we see persistent gaps in health or employment outcomes for some ethnic groups, when concerns about de facto segregation continue, and when politicians talk about particular minorities ‘quietly condoning’ non-British values – is it time to put integration back on the policy agenda?
