Thread by @KingBobIIV on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App
🧵 I have spent days going back through old Labour governments, Labour
manifestos, speeches and Hansard, because I wanted to know when it
apparently became "far-right" to suggest that rapid population growth
and mass immigration can put pressure on housing, wages, jobs and public
services.
Unfortunately for modern Labour, old Labour left an enormous paper trail.
1965, Harold Wilson's Labour government published its White Paper on
Commonwealth immigration and openly acknowledged the problems caused by
the concentration of immigration in areas "where there is already a
housing shortage and pressure on the social services".
The problems were listed under four headings, housing, education, employment and health.
Labour understood sixty years ago that the poorest communities, where
housing and services were already under pressure, would feel rapid
demographic change first.
Source: UK Parliament/Hansard
Commonwealth Immigration debate, 2 August 1965
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1965-0…
The same 1965 Labour policy was not simply a discussion about
integration, the government proposed reducing annual work permits from
20,800 to 8,500 and abolishing work permits for unskilled workers
altogether, while simultaneously providing extra help in schools and
communities affected by migration.
In other words, Labour believed you could treat immigrants decently,
tackle discrimination and still recognise that numbers, concentration,
housing and public-service capacity mattered.
Source: House of Commons Library
Immigration white papers, 1965–2025
researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-…
By the Michael Foot era, Labour's 1983 manifesto explicitly stated, "We accept the need for immigration controls."
Foot's Labour opposed racial discrimination within the immigration
system and wanted to repeal Conservative legislation, but it did not
therefore conclude that immigration required no control at all, it
argued for a different system of control.
That distinction seems to have become almost impossible to make in modern political debate.
Source: 1983 Labour manifesto
A New Hope for Britain, Labour manifesto 1983
labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/198…
Tony Benn's position was different and I am not going to rewrite history
to make him fit my argument, Benn opposed immigration controls as the
solution, but his entire economic analysis was rooted in the power
imbalance between capital and labour, and in the ability of capital to
search the world for lower labour costs while ordinary workers lacked
comparable power.
His answer was stronger unions and control of capital rather than
immigration restrictions, but the question at the centre of his politics
was always the same, who benefits economically and which class pays?
Source: Tony Benn interview
Tony Benn on labour, capital and the global economy
pbs.org/wgbh/commandin…
In 1987, Labour's manifesto was still explicitly committed to a policy
of "firm and fair immigration control", while also insisting that the
law should not discriminate on grounds of race, colour or sex.
There was no intellectual contradiction, Labour could argue for equality
before the law and firm immigration control in the same paragraph,
because opposing racism did not require pretending a country had no
right to control migration.
Source: 1987 Labour manifesto
Britain Will Win with Labour, manifesto 1987
labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/198…
In 1997, Tony Blair's landslide manifesto could hardly have been
clearer, "Every country must have firm control over immigration and
Britain is no exception."
That was not a fringe movement trying to drag Labour to the right, it
was written into the manifesto on which Tony Blair won 418 seats and the
largest Labour majority in history.
Source: 1997 Labour manifesto
New Labour: Because Britain Deserves Better, manifesto 1997
labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/199…
By 2001, Labour was welcoming workers with skills Britain "needed" while
drawing a very clear distinction between selected economic migration
and abuse of the asylum system, stating, "But asylum should not be an
alternative route to immigration."
The principle was that Britain could welcome migration which met an
identified need, enforce its rules, decide claims quickly and remove
those who had no right to remain.
Source: 2001 Labour manifesto
Ambitions for Britain, Labour manifesto 2001
labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/200…
In 2005, Blair's Labour government published a five-year immigration
plan based on "strict controls that work", proposing a points-based
system, phasing out low-skilled migration schemes, restricting permanent
settlement largely to skilled workers, English-language requirements,
fingerprinting visa applicants, migrant identification documents and
increased removals.
This was a Labour government arguing that migration should be selected
according to Britain's economic and social interests ONLY.
Source: UK Government archive
Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, 2005
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c7415…
Then, in 2007, Gordon Brown used the phrase "British jobs for British workers".
The slogan was controversial even then, but the political concern behind
it was obvious, Labour knew its traditional voters were worried about
employment, wages and the consequences of employers accessing a much
larger labour market while British workers were told to accept stagnant
wages and increasing competition.
Source: contemporary coverage of Brown's 2007 Labour conference speech
Gordon Brown and “British jobs for British workers”
theguardian.com/politics/2007/…
In October 2008, Labour Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said something
so extraordinary in hindsight that it deserves to be read in full:
"This Government isn't going to allow the population to go up to 70 million.
There has to be a balance between the number of people coming in and the number of people leaving."
A Labour Immigration Minister explicitly said his government would NOT ALLOW the British population to reach 70 million.
Source: Hansard
Immigration Controls debate, 21 October 2008
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2008-1…
This was not an invented quotation or a line retrospectively attributed
to Woolas, his comments were reported contemporaneously in October 2008,
when he also said that a cap on immigration would be needed if numbers
rose above a certain point and that the points-based system could be
changed.
The argument was explicitly about preventing Britain reaching 70 million.
70 million was seen as the maximum amount of people the UK could cope
with before the infrastructure and services would collapse. This
included water/sewage, healthcare, public transport and education.
The magic number. Go beyond that and the UK could descend in to chaos.
Source: The Guardian, 18 October 2008
Immigration minister calls for cap on newcomers
theguardian.com/politics/2008/…
In 2009, Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson admitted Labour had made
mistakes on immigration and acknowledged that some communities had
"legitimate concerns about the strain on jobs and services".
This is the point modern Labour so often seems desperate to avoid, the
pressure is not distributed equally, a wealthy household with private
healthcare, private schooling and secure housing experiences population
growth very differently from a family competing for affordable housing,
low-paid work and overstretched local services.
Source: The Guardian, 2 November 2009
Alan Johnson: Labour has made mistakes on immigration
theguardian.com/politics/2009/…
By 2009, official projections were warning that Britain's population was
heading towards 70 million, and the debate was increasingly concerned
with whether housing, water, energy, waste systems and infrastructure
could keep pace with population growth.
The Environment Agency's own planning work was examining future water
demand against population growth, because governments and infrastructure
planners understood the rather obvious point that millions more people
require millions more people's worth of water, sewage, housing and
physical capacity.
Source: UK Government population and sustainability material
Demographic Change and the Environment
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c4f03…
On 2 February 2010, just three months before the General Election, Labour Immigration Minister Phil Woolas told Parliament:
"The Government agree that a population of 70 million is not desirable."
There is no ambiguity in that sentence, the Labour government formally
stated in Parliament that a population of 70 million was not desirable.
Some experts think we're now 10 or more million beyond that number.
Source: Hansard
Population and Immigration debate, 2 February 2010
hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2010-0…
Then read Labour's actual 2010 General Election manifesto, because it
explicitly said, "We understand people's concerns about immigration —
about whether it will undermine their wages or job prospects, or put
pressure on public services or housing — and we have acted."
Labour itself joined immigration to wages, job prospects, public
services and housing, and the negative effevt this was having on the
worling class, and the poorest towns and villages, in its General
Election manifesto.
manifesto.deryn.co.uk/wp-content/upl…
The same 2010 Labour manifesto promised to use an Australian-style
points-based system to ensure that, as economic growth returned, Britain
saw "rising employment and wages, not rising immigration".
That sentence is almost impossible to reconcile with the economic
argument we have heard repeatedly in more recent years, that ever-higher
immigration is necessary to produce economic growth.
Source: Labour Party manifesto 2010
A Future Fair for All, immigration section
manifesto.deryn.co.uk/wp-content/upl…
In 2012, after Labour had lost the election, Ed Miliband gave a
remarkable speech on immigration in which he admitted that Labour had
been "too slow" to understand who benefited and who bore the costs of
immigration, and he explicitly framed part of the argument around class.
His point was that immigration could make life easier for some people
while making life harder for others, and Labour had failed to recognise
that distributional divide.
Source: Ed Miliband immigration speech, June 2012
Ed Miliband outlines Labour's new approach to immigration
ein.org.uk/news/ippr-ed-m…
Miliband then said, "The combination of immigration and an
under-regulated labour market held wages down in hospitality, food
processing and social care."
These were not highly paid City jobs, they were sectors employing large
numbers of lower-paid workers, and the Labour leader was openly
acknowledging that immigration, combined with weak labour protections,
had held wages down.
Source: Ed Miliband immigration speech, 22 June 2012
ein.org.uk/news/ippr-ed-m…
Miliband's argument went beyond wages, because he also acknowledged that
Britain had opened its labour market to Eastern European migration too
quickly and that the last Labour government had made mistakes.
Contemporary reporting summarised his admission plainly, Labour had
allowed too many Eastern European migrants into Britain by lifting
controls too early.
Source: The Guardian, 21 June 2012
Change rules on migrant workers, says Ed Miliband
theguardian.com/uk/2012/jun/21…
This used to be an entirely recognisable Labour argument, employers should not be allowed to use an international supply of cheaper labour to weaken the bargaining position of workers already living here.
Source: Ed Miliband Labour conference speech, 2012
Ed Miliband's conference speech transcript
labourlist.org/2012/10/ed-mil…
Labour understood the cycle, employers gain access to cheaper labour, wages and conditions remain unattractive, fewer local workers enter those sectors, employers announce a labour shortage and demand access to still more low-paid migrant labour.
Source: Labour Party manifesto 2015
Britain Can Be Better, Labour manifesto 2015
manifestos.org.uk/manifesto/2015…
Now come back to the present and remember the number Labour once said was "not desirable", 70 million.
Britain's population has passed that threshold while the country
simultaneously faces an acute housing shortage, enormous NHS waiting
lists and acknowledged failures in water and other infrastructure, yet
we are increasingly encouraged to discuss each crisis as though
population growth is the one variable that must never be included in the
calculation.
For the current population figures, (estimates) see the ONS population estimates and projections.
Source: Office for National Statistics
UK population estimates and projections
ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…
Labour's own 2024 manifesto promised 1.5 million new homes, described
the NHS as broken, acknowledged a housing crisis, promised
infrastructure reform and said the immigration system needed to be
"controlled and managed".
These problems are discussed throughout the same manifesto, yet the
obvious question remains, how quickly must housing, water, sewage
capacity, transport, schools and healthcare expand merely to maintain
the same provision per person when the population is growing so rapidly?
Source: Labour Party manifesto 2024
Change, Labour Party manifesto 2024
labour.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
The class question has barely changed since Wilson's government
identified housing shortages and pressure on social services in 1965.
The wealthiest experience mass immigration largely as an economic
argument about aggregate growth, while the poorest are more likely to
experience pressure through the affordable housing market, low-paid
sectors of the labour market and reliance on local public services,
which is precisely why Labour politicians from Wilson's government to
Miliband repeatedly discussed concentration, wages, jobs and services.
Commonwealth Immigration debate, 1965
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1965-0…
None of this requires pretending *all* immigrants are "bad people", it
simply requires applying the old Labour question to public policy, who
benefits and who bears the cost?
If an employer benefits from a larger labour supply, while the state
must provide additional housing, water, sewage capacity, healthcare,
education and transport, and lower-paid communities experience the
greatest local pressure, it is perfectly legitimate for a workers' party
to ask whether the benefits and costs are being distributed fairly.
Labour write these rules. They made these arguments.
So when did making these same points start becoming a "far right" narrative?
In 1965, Labour identified housing, education, employment and health.
In 1983 Labour accepted the need for immigration controls.
In 1987 it promised "firm and fair immigration control", in 1997 Blair said Britain needed "firm control".
In 2010 Labour explicitly warned about wages, jobs, public services and housing.
In 2012 Miliband admitted immigration combined with an under-regulated
labour market had held down wages in several low-paid industries.
These are Labour's arguments, preserved in its own manifestos, government papers, speeches and Hansard.
So, why are we - the same working class - now labelled "far right" for
making the very same arguments, for the very same reasons, that the
Labour party has been making since the 1960s?
