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The Labour party is having problems with arithmetic. It initially assumed that less than 20,000 people would migrate from Central Europe to seek work in the United Kingdom following the EU enlargement before last, when in fact the true figure is closer to 1 million. It is now putting out arguments on the economic benefits arising from the contributions of economic migrants without stating the real costs nor economic impacts on the British labour market and GNP/capita.

How Labour power has relied on immigration

But there are sound reasons why a leader of the Labour Party would not wish to disturb this trend which is causing considerable upset in many English communities because of the overwhelming influx of economic migrants. Historically, the Labour Party has sustained its position in England largely on the basis of the vote of immigrants. This included, initially, a significant support from the Irish from the Irish Republic who can vote in the United Kingdom. Indeed, many such Irish were important supporters of the creation of the Labour Party in Scotland in the Red Clyde. These have since included the Commonwealth immigrants arriving after the second world war and who on the basis of some investment on the part of Labour party activists became Labour voters. The Labour party continues to sustain it image as a party which welcomes immigrants arising from the now uncontrolled influx from EU member states.

Helping immigration

It is the easiest game in the world to "support immigrants" who are benefiting from an improvement in their standard of living without in fact doing much to assist them. Immigrants are particularly vulnerable to being influenced in favour of those political parties who do not create problems for them and there is a natural gravitation towards those political parties who are neutral or understanding of their circumstances and thereby bolster their confidence and presence within society. Labour, contrary to the Conservatives, has always been a deft operator in this field in England.

Low cost housing and the property ladder

The Labour Party's concern with "low cost housing" is geared not only to the British and mainly English population but also to new immigrants. By way of example, people from Poland working in the United Kingdom and who have come here in the last 3 years now exceed 1 million. This figure is based on industry estimates in the construction and packing sectors and their accompanying family members. Increasing numbers, with their children enjoying a British education, are considering remaining and settling in the United Kingdom. This suggests that something like 50% of the current Government new housing commitments of some 210,000 units within the next few years could be taken up by Polish immigrants alone.

Incompetence or dishonesty?

The issue of immigration problems is not as Government ministers wish to emphasise, something which can be managed through stronger immigration controls or Blue Cards for skilled workers. The majority of immigration to the UK is and will come to an increasing degree from Central and Eastern Europe. This is because British governments have signed up to various European treaties and regulations, without involving the British public in such decisions. As a result both the Conservative and the Labour parties have contributed to a situation over which British Governments have no control because of poor decision making based upon a theoretical concept of the free flow of labour which in practice is upsetting communities. All political parties have on this aspect of a closer union in Europe failed to give adequate thought to the subsequent government responsiblities and in particular upholding the rights of the current population.

Immigrant right to vote

Something which is becoming an explosive topic and therefore it is not even whispered in party conferences is that under existing European Law, which takes precedence over British Law, any citizen of the European member state may vote and stand as candidates in municipal elections where they are resident and of which they are not nationals (Council Directive 94/80/EC of 19 December 1994). These include those who:

are European Union citizens, i.e. persons with the nationality of a Member State of the European Union (EU);
are resident in the Member State where they would like to vote or stand as a candidate;
comply with the conditions imposed by the national legislation of the Member State of residence on its nationals concerning the right to vote and stand in municipal elections.

The principle of equality and non-discrimination between national and Community voters and candidates must be observed (European citizens to satisfy the same conditions as nationals of the Member State of residence). In order to take part in elections, citizens must apply to be entered in the electoral roll of the Member State of residence as an expression of their interest in voting. The Member States must make the necessary arrangements to enable them to be entered on the electoral roll in due time before polling day.

Labour preparing the way

CybaCity has noted that some members of the Labour Party are recommending a change to European Law, and therefore British Law, so as to enable citizens of European Member States to also participate in general elections in the United Kingdom. So far this interest has not received much publicity in the British media. This right to vote issue, amongst others, is one of the a reasons the Labour Party does not wish to encourage public questions, especially in England, on the considerable disruption of social comity caused by the current intensity of immigration and, in particular, involving citizens of the European Union. There is a subtle and intentional confusion created by the mixing of discussions on immigrants from non-EU member states and those from EU member states. The big issue in fact is immigrants from member states who have recently joined the EU.

Election strategies

There have been suggestions that Gordon Brown's "commitment" to low cost housing is also with an eye on the European Union immigrants and workers; the location of such housing projects would be of critical importance to the success of Labour Party strategic plans to convert marginal Labour constituencies in England into "safe" seats over the medium term. Immigrants of voting age, including those from the EU, now total around 2.75 million and this is equivalent to some 40 English consituencies. In terms of the conversion of marginal seats into safer Labour seats this vote, if distributed tactically, could perhaps swing 60 constituencies towards Labour (10% of the total in England). Thus, with the West Lothian effect on the one hand (see "What was the West Lothian Question, and why is it important?")and the immigration vote impact on the other, the Labour Party can consolidate its decision-making power in Parliament to impose legislation on the English population without increasing its electoral support amongst the English electorate.

This links in with the other Labour Party strategy related to their support of the European Union's "regionalization" which was sold as devolution in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and as "regionalization" in England and concentrated on those areas where the Labour Party was well represented (see "You can't fool all of the English all of the time")

Electoral engineering

The recent report written by Lord Goldsmith was very much concerned about the possibility of accelerating the status of citizenship for many immigrants into a status which allows them to vote. The very confused nature of the Goldsmith report makes a lot of sense if one views it from the standpoint of a Labour party agenda as opposed to a government agenda. The report seems to constitute a specific Labour party strategy to undertake a major electoral engineering exercise to benefit the Labour party. It is more than evident that the Irish have served their purpose for the Labour party and, indeed, an increasing proportion not being Labour supporters. Now the Labour party are set to abandon the Irish on the basis of the fact that the Good Friday Agreement exists. The thin edge of the wedge, in less than subtle terms can be seen in Gordon Brown references to the United Kingdom being limited to England, Wales and Scotland and in Lord Goldsmith's low profile proposal, taking up just a few lines in his report, that the Irish in the United Kingdom should lose their right to vote.

The marginalization of the population

Political parties marginalise the populations through misrepresentation and refusal to permit effective participatory governance.

The politically correct argument is all about the "economic contribution" of immigration but the main public complaint is that the too-fast pace of change is resulting social disruption; this does not interest the politicians. The other politically correct but amazingly a misrepresentation of the facts is that the United Kingdom has always advanced and been strengthened through immigration. This is bascially not true and there is little economic evidence to support this contention.

Indeed, the gaping hole in the Labour party's approach is constitutional. This government increasingly fails to address the issue of the participation of the people of Britain in deciding on such commitments, and others, related to the European Union. This was brought up as a stark reality in their handling of the issue of the Europesn Treaty recently. In previous interviews on this question, and specifically that of the referendum on the Amending Treaty (re-named constitution), Gordon Brown has never been at all convincing. Others such can David Milliband have tried to argue the case that there is no constitution. This is a disingenuous and slightly absurd position for a British minister to take since amongst all of the countries in Europe, Britain's approach to constitution has been a tradition that our constitution is made up of many separate written documents, court decisions and previous European treaties, none of which is "called" a constitution. To the codified and blinkered view of continental law where there is no role for the community conscience, a legal document is a constitution only if it is called a constitution; most people in Britain know that this is nonsense because the effects are all constitutional.

Another recent document, "The Governance of Britain", an effort by Jack Straw, is another third rate product of the Labour party, where vital issues which can bring about a democracy based upon a broader participation of the people of Britain in decisions which affect them, are, largely ignored. In the particular instance of the status of one of the most important British constitutional instruments in preventing arbitrary legislative impact, the jury, the "The Governance of Britain" remains silent. This is to be expected on the part of a party whose track record has shown a hostility to juries and the ability of a fre people to defend the freedom of nothe against arbitrary decisions. The Labour party shows a worrying tendency towards institutionalization of the law and the use of law to rule as opposed to upholding the rule of law.

British political party business as usual

No one can blame the Labour party for seeing immigrants as a potential source of votes and their hands off approach to the whole issue suggests they have this in the back of their minds. But then what can one expect of any of these parties who for too long, without exception place their own interests over those of the people?

Updated: 11/04/2008 - clarification and addition of the Electoral engineering section and reference to "The Governance of Britain".