Diary of a Part Time Futurist - Hammering the Immigrants  

“I keep seeing people getting upset about the Conservatives introducing the requirement for companies to list their foreign workers, and schools asking parents to provide the nationality and country of birth for their children. This anger doesn't surprise me as it does seem like a terribly costly and bureaucratic way of doing things. Perhaps if we offered designated areas of our cities for them to live in, only allowed them to work in certain jobs - possibly make them carry a card or show a symbol on their clothes then it would make the whole process much more - efficient? Perhaps we could have a special body of civil servants to help them? We could call it something like the General Employment and Schools Team to Aid Population Organisation. Oh no, hang on...”

This is what I posted on a certain well known “social” website. I was almost immediately taken to task by a friend for allegedly falling into the pinko-liberal conspiracy of quashing all debate that doesn’t align with my own suspect views by crying “Nazi” at every opportunity.

First of all, unlike a number of friends as it happens, I am not calling the Conservative Party Nazis. The post above extrapolates out a current situation to an extreme as satire. However, as with all satire, it is a device to reflect real concerns and highlight the reason for those concerns. Secondly, I do not buy at all the dismissive suggestions about Amber Rudd being a minor player and her proposal just being a tool for debate. She may have "come from nowhere" but she is Home Secretary and she wields real power and influence. Also, this may only be a proposal but it is put forward by the person responsible for policy in this area at the governing party's conference. Even if it is never heard of again it cannot be ignored as it shows an underlying will of the party. Finally, if this was merely a sop to disaffected U-Kippers then it is still despiseable for its mercenary qualities that jettison principles for the sake of a few more votes

What of the proposal to register foreign workers itself? Fighting deplorable working practices are cited as part of the overall remit for the Conservative Party going forwards and, it has been suggested, this is the driver behind the proposal. How does registering the number of foreign workers help with this though? Factory X has a workforce that consists of 20% immigrants from outside the EU and 30% immigrants from within the EU. Ok? Now what? How does this data protect the workers? Surely, if we actually want to do that then we would make it easier to bring actions against the employer? We would directly treat the problem by funding legal services for those on the bottom rung of the ladder, by introducing legislation to enforce minimum levels of care and to prevent victimisation - rather than spending money on bureaucracy in support of some nebulous extrapolation.

This all assumes that our more shabby employers are even truthful regarding the figures they return. If they see an advantage, and are not beyond using the situation regarding immigrants to drive down employment conditions to an unacceptable level; then surely they will not be beyond lying on a survey that will be difficult to check? What this has to do with the registration of the nationality of immigrant children at school, something that is happening now, I have no idea. Of course there was also a keynote in Rudd’s speech about jobs for British workers. Forgetting all the arguments about the need to fill skills gaps and the (at least perceived) higher return in work of immigrants for the same pay powering our economy - would a list of foreign workers not be useful in applying pressure on companies to remove their immigrant workers and replace them with British workers?

Could this data, if not used by the Conservatives even, be used to drum up anti-immigrant feeling by other less salubrious groups? Could it not engender a sense of entitlement based on birth rather than ability? To feed the “them and us” mentality? The rhetoric of "coming over here taking our jobs" and "Paki go home?” In these situations I wonder whether those who forge the hammer, in the knowledge of how it may be used, are really that much more innocent than those who would wield the hammer in the name of bigotry?