The Migrants Are Coming to the Ballot Box
Instead of demonising them, right wing politicians and media organisations need to accept the growing role migrants will have in our democracy, argues the Bear
Last week, The Telegraph treated us to a predictably melodramatic opinion piece about Britain’s so-called “£61 billion mistake.” The headline was a familiar blend of alarmism and bad arithmetic, warning us of the fiscal apocalypse supposedly brought on by a wave of low-skilled migration. Of course, the solution wasn’t to suggest better pay and conditions for workers or improved investment in public services – don’t be daft. No, The Telegraph called for migrants to wait longer for citizenship, because, presumably, what this country desperately needs is more people paying taxes but denied rights.
But here’s something the article conveniently forgot to mention: this wave of migrants isn’t just propping up Britain’s crumbling infrastructure, particularly when it comes to social care – they’re also becoming a political force to reckon with. By 2030, millions of migrants will have achieved citizenship and voting rights, while Commonwealth citizens already enjoy the right to vote in UK elections as residents. Nigel Farage’s worst nightmare isn’t just coming – it’s rolling up to the ballot box in droves, and it’s not happy.
Since 2019, over six million migrants have arrived in the UK, and based on past trends, about 60% of them will naturalise. That’s more than three million new voters in just over a decade, a demographic shift that could reshape the political landscape if the most recent elections are anything to go by. Add to that the hundreds of thousands of Commonwealth citizens who, by the way, can vote without needing citizenship, and you’re looking at a bloc large enough to swing elections.
And yet, this group barely gets a mention in political discourse beyond the usual scaremongering. Migrants are either wrongly vilified by politicians and media organisations as economic drains, or ignored entirely, their contributions erased by a media narrative more interested in whipping up outrage than acknowledging reality.
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