Britain has been home to immigrants and refugees. It has housed people from all over the world in times of crisis. 50 years ago, one such exodus in Uganda ended up making Britain their safe home for thousands of families for life. In the present scenario, the Tory party’s immigration system, including the Rwanda deportation scheme, the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan or breakdown of the states in Syria or Libya and the displacement of citizens after the Ukraine war - the topic of forced migration or refugees has become more obvious for day to day discussions.
To mark a historic moment, on 3rd November, His Majesty King Charles III joined 450 guests at Buckingham Palace to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the arrival of British Asians from Uganda to the United Kingdom. The event included notable attendees Jonathan Dimbleby, Jon Snow, Alan Critchley, Sanjeev Bhaskar OBE, and The Rt. Hon. the Baroness Vadera, The Rt. Hon. Baroness Virginia Bottomley, and The Rt. Reverend and The Rt. Hon. the Lord Sentamu who shared personal experiences, stories, and paid tribute.
Ugandan Expulsion’s anniversary inevitably reminds of Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in 1968, which was primarily aimed at the Windrush generation and the immigration that took place from Commonwealth countries.
Many forget, but Ugandan Asians had British Overseas Citizen status. Powell’s speech, though, was constantly referred to at community levels as a way of stopping Ugandan Asians from getting refuge. Over the years, Ugandan Asians have become some of the most successful and well-integrated communities in the UK.
They were not only hard-working and well-educated when they landed in the UK, but many regenerated areas in key towns like Leicester and in boroughs in London, and over decades they have also been integrated into the social fabric of this country. Immigrants like Sanjiv Bhaskar OBE, Lord Dollar Popat, and Lord Jitesh Gadhia have enriched society and contributed to the welfare of British Asians.
Noticeably, it’s taken the UK a lifetime to be able to say that the Prime Minister of Britain is a son of an Indian immigrant, who left Kenya and Tanganyika and settled in Britain in search of a better life.
Even during Brexit, the main factor that divided the country was Brexit. The controversial claim that the UK sends £350m a week to the EU was a "gross underestimate", the then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had said.
But how did Brexit impact immigration? The effects on overall migration numbers may be limited, but the skills and sectoral mix of migrants may look substantially different. The UK introduced a new immigration system on 1 January 2021, representing a significant tightening of controls on EU migration compared with free movement. Migrants from EU countries coming to work in lower-skilled and lower-paid occupations will, in principle, no longer be able to gain entry.
This is allegedly one of the prime contributing factors to the labour shortage across the UK. It is an unsaid truth that white Britons do not want to sign up for operational or menial jobs which were the primary source of employment for immigrants in the UK. With Brexit, that labour force is lost.
Looking at the British workforce, it is next to impossible to work without immigrants. The number of migrant workers in the tourism and hospitality workforce in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2011 and 2016, was approximately between 300,000 - 400,000.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman recently said she would aspire to cut the overall migration figure from the current level of 239,000 amid a growing clamour from party activists for the government to take control of immigration levels. However, cutting down immigration has been one of the main agendas of the Tories for years. Braverman’s statement that caught controversy is perhaps not new.
Meanwhile, UK and France are in the “final stage” of reaching an agreement to tackle the issue of small boats crossing the English channel, Rishi Sunak said on Monday. Almost 40,000 people have crossed the Channel in 2022 so far, a rise from 28,526 last year. (Read more about PM Sunak’s visit to COP27 on P2)
Interestingly, the latest report by ONS reflects the positive influence of immigrants on the UK. Just in time to coincide with the anniversary of the exodus, last week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the next phase of Census 2021 outputs for England and Wales where we look at topics including migration, country of birth and household size and structure.
The number of England and Wales residents born outside of the UK has increased by 2.5 million in the decade since the last census. New data from Census 2021 show most of the increase in residents born outside the UK were arrivals from Romania after working restrictions were lifted in 2014, followed by India and Poland.
One in six, or 10 million (16.8%), usual residents of England and Wales were born outside the UK on Census Day, 21 March 2021, an increase from 7.5 million (13.4%) in 2011.
Commenting on the numbers, Census Deputy Director Jon Wroth-Smith said: “While these events may have had an impact on people’s decisions or ability to migrate or travel at a given time, the census tells us about the change over the whole decade – who was living here in March 2021, compared with March 2011. We can see Romanians have been a big driver in this change, while there have also been increases due to migration from India, Pakistan and Poland, as well as southern European countries such as Italy.”
London has remained the region with both the largest proportion of people born outside the UK and the largest proportion of people with non-UK passports.
This also implies that the yoke of finding a solution to the UK’s migrant crisis and immigration woes rests on PM Rishi Sunak.
From the London Mayor to NHS doctors, immigrants are running Britain in leading positions and some of the most imperative ones. In light of the anniversary of the Ugandan Expulsion and current ongoing socio-political debates around immigration in the UK, Asian Voice asked members of the community who are immigrants about what immigration means to them, how they've contributed to the economy as an immigrant and how much immigration is good for a nation.
Will continue to champion the rights of migrants, says London Mayor
Sadiq Khan’s grandparents migrated from Lucknow in United Provinces, British India to Pakistan following the partition of India in 1947. His father Amanullah and his mother Sehrun arrived in London from Pakistan in 1968. Khan was the fifth of eight children, seven of whom were boys. In London, Amanullah worked as a bus driver and Sehrun as a seamstress. In a statement issued to Asian Voice, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said, “I’m immensely proud that London is a city that celebrates our diversity. We have seen the huge benefits that immigration brings to our capital over many centuries and have become a truly global city thanks to our open and outward-looking attitude. Immigration has helped to shape all aspects of life in our city and every day we see the positive contribution it makes to our economy and our communities. It is something that is too often under-estimated and under-appreciated, and I will continue to champion the rights of migrants as we build a better and fairer London for everyone.”
Conservative Cllr Ameet Jogia MBE who has roots in East African heritage told Asian Voice, “The anniversary of the 50th anniversary of the expulsion of Ugandan Asians, was a timely and proud moment for all Eastern African Asian communities. It reminded us of how far the community has come and what a success immigrants can make with the tremendous opportunities available in this country. It also reflects the success of the community, in terms of their ability to integrate and contribution to the UK. Within the wider immigration debate, the example of East African Asians reflects the need to promote a fair immigration system that works for all.”
Immigrants supporting NHS yet Starmer says ‘too many people from overseas’ at the NHS
The UK is recruiting too many people from overseas into the NHS, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The Labour leader argued immigration was not the solution to a staffing crisis as he called for more recruitment from within the UK. It came as new data revealed staffing issues were linked to two deaths at a Glasgow hospital in one month. The Labour leader said he has daily conversations with his wife Victoria, who works in the NHS, about the health service's struggles.
Asked what she says is the problem with the NHS, Sir Keir replied: "We haven't got enough people." On whether he believes immigration should be used to address that issue, he said: "I think that we should be training people in this country. Of course, we need some immigration but we need to train people in this country."
Sir Starmer’s comments come after politicians and campaign groups criticised Home Secretary Suella Braverman's language about migrants.
NHS and immigrants
It is public knowledge that without the contribution of immigrant doctors in the NHS, especially during the pandemic, whether it was running emergency services or the vaccine rollout, Britain wouldn’t have left the virus behind.
Recently, Dr Partha Kar OBE, Diabetes co-lead, NHS; Director-Equality, Medics, NHS was listed among the 50 most influential Black, Asian and minority ethnic people in health policy over the next 12 months by the Health and Service Journal, UK. Dr Kar is renowned in the community for his tireless work towards helping people with Type 2 diabetes. He too is an immigrant from Kolkata, who has been serving the NHS for years. Speaking to the newsweekly, Professor Partha Kar FRCP told Asian Voice, “In the field of healthcare in the NHS? Immigrants have been a mainstay of providing care to the wider population- whether they be nurses and doctors. Their contribution over the years has continued to be immense- and widely recognised by many- especially the sacrifices made leaving loved ones and families behind. A key feature going forward is not only to ensure these individuals are recognised but also have opportunities to progress and flourish in the health system- further using their leadership skills to enhance healthcare for the population.”
Further cementing the contribution of immigrants to the nation, in his exclusive column for Asian Voice on the 50th anniversary of Ugandan Expulsion, Lord Dolar Popat writes, “The generational growth of different occupations among those of Ugandan Asian extraction has been one of the happiest outcomes of the expulsion. I’m not just talking about the lawyers and doctors whom so many of our children and children’s children have become, admirable as that is, but about the manifold routes by which those of Ugandan Asian extraction have integrated successfully into the United Kingdom. As the sense that our community had found a homeland that we loved and by which we were honoured rose, Ugandan Asians themselves rose to the top in all walks of British life. This is true whether it be: politics and banking (Shriti Vadera and Jitesh Gadhia, both now fellow peers with me in the House of Lords); policing (Tarique Ghaffur, formerly Assistant Commissioner–Central Operations, Metropolitan Police); sport (Warwickshire cricketer Asif Din), and the media (journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown).” (See P1 and 17 for full column)
UK to now also recruit spies who are not born to British parents
The UK’s three intelligence agencies are seeking to broaden the pool of talent they can recruit from by accepting anyone who has British citizenship – regardless of where their parents are from. “We perform best in our mission to keep the nation safe and further the UK’s interests when we reflect the diversity of the country we serve,” said a spokesperson speaking on behalf of GCHQ, MI5 and MI6.
Migrant poetry
This November Indian origin Rhiya Pau’s poetry collection, Routes, which commemorates this year being 50 years since the Ugandan Asian expulsion and since Rhiya’s family - and so many others - came to Britain will be published. Rhiya Pau told Asian Voice, “To examine our own history is to change the way we see ourselves, to celebrate our victories and hold ourselves accountable for our failures. Learning about the Ugandan Expulsion is an opportunity to honour the contributions the diaspora has made to British society and a chance for our community to collectively process traumas from the experience. In 1972, a decade after Uganda’s independence from the British, the Asian community owned 90% of Uganda’s businesses. As a community that identifies strongly with Gandhian philosophies of decolonising and redistributing wealth and power to indigenous populations, discourse around the Expulsion also presents an opportunity to acknowledge the structural colonialism we were upholding in East Africa. At a macro level, we were agents of the Empire. Acknowledging this does not diminish or invalidate our trauma as a community. Navigating the intersections of our macro and micro-histories is complex and challenging. As a community, we suffered but we also enforced suffering – fifty years on, it’s my hope that we have healed enough from our own pain, to be able to recognise both these statements as truths.”
