As anti-immigration protests flare around asylum sites and politicians promise “control” and lower numbers, a new white paper launched in London pushes back against the central claim of today’s xenophobia debate: that migration weakens Britain. Instead, it highlights a community that has repeatedly helped the country hold together and move forward.
Released by Manish Tiwari of Here & Now 365 in collaboration with the Aston India Centre at Aston University, the report traces four waves of Indian migration since independence, framing them as a continuous thread in modern Britain’s recovery, enterprise, and global competitiveness.
The timing is politically charged. The UK government is tightening net migration, linking visas to domestic training, and curbing routes into the country. On the streets, tensions have flared: protests and counter-protests around asylum hotels, such as in Epping, Essex, have become emblematic of the “migrant hotel” row.
Against this backdrop, the white paper’s message is clear: Indian migration has historically filled gaps Britain could not, and today powers sectors the country cannot afford to stall. Post-war migrants arrived amid labour shortages, working across manufacturing, transport, and public services, laying the early foundations of the NHS. The 1970s East Africa expulsions brought families who revived local economies and entrenched a culture of enterprise.
As Britain transitioned to a knowledge economy, Indian migration shifted to doctors, engineers, financiers, and educators, strengthening competitiveness in a globalised era. The fourth wave, post-Brexit and post-Covid, underscores the present moment: Indian professionals now plug critical skills shortages, particularly in technology, healthcare, and social care. The report notes that Indian-born professionals make up around 15% of the UK’s tech workforce, a striking share in a country marketing itself as a science-and-tech power.
Reflecting on the findings, Manish Tiwari states the diaspora’s contribution within Britain’s broader national journey, “Indian migrants helped rebuild Britain after the war, powered its digital revolution, and strengthened its health and care systems in times of crisis. The Indian diaspora has played a defining role in building the tech superpower Britain is today and continues to contribute across every layer of society.”
From an institutional and academic perspective, Aston University underscores the strategic significance of this relationship. As the report notes, “The Indian diaspora is woven into the UK’s growth story. The diaspora supports the UK’s public services delivery and powers innovation while also shaping future competitiveness and global influence through skills, enterprise, and people-to-people links with India.”
The white paper positions the community among the UK’s most economically successful migrant groups, citing high employment, education, and entrepreneurship. Its launch at the House of Lords signals that this is more than a community story — it is a political intervention in a polarised climate, bringing together policymakers, business leaders, academics, and cultural figures.
Amid public frustration with services, political pledges to curb migration, and a street-level atmosphere where migrants are targeted, the report argues that reducing all migration to a grievance obscures a crucial fact: Britain’s hospitals, care homes, IT systems, start-ups, and high streets are deeply interwoven with Indian labour and enterprise. The real question is not whether Britain can “do without” migration, but what the cost would be to growth, productivity, and services if contributors are treated as targets.
In a Europe increasingly anxious about borders, the white paper offers a striking counterpoint: migration, evidence shows, can be an investment, and integration can be a competitive advantage, not a cultural threat.
