Nigel Farage’s claim that a mass deportation of those low-skilled immigrants who entered the UK via the so-called ‘Boris Wave’ 2021 to 2024, from countries outside the EU, will save a total of £234bn by prohibiting access to benefits and the welfare system for those who have naturalised and apply for citizenship via the Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), has caused a swell in opinion polls in support of Reform which proposes stricter controls for visa applicants including stricter language and salary thresholds, and the requirement they apply for a new visa every five years.
However, although last year net migration was still high at 431,000, this represents a decline from the 906,000 who successfully applied for ILR in 2023. Furthermore, the alleged cost saving of £234bn was taken from a thinktank report that was subsequently withdrawn as an over-estimate.
The subject of immigration currently is politically contentious, so the time is ripe to look at historically what benefits Britain has gained from allowing skilled workers to meet an employment deficit, after population declined due to fatalities during the Second World War.
Historian Colin Douglas held a talk at Hounslow House as part of Black History Moth, on the contribution of the Caribbean to WW2, which was vital in terms of supplying key resources and manpower for the British war effort.
Of around 510mn residents of the British Empire, the Caribbean contributed 30,000/2.5mn armed forces, as conscription was extended here and also for India, which contributed 2mn troops. In 1940 post-battle of Dunkirk official propaganda focused on narratives of imperial unity.
The Battle of Britain, between the RAF and German airforces, highlighted that the UK was more effective in airplane manufacturing but, lacking sufficient air crew, had to source personnel whose skills “consistently exceeding the UK average” meaning the UK extended its recruitment drive, with 5.5 thousand ground crew and 500 West Indian aircrew. At the time, pilots stood a one in two chance of dying in conflict with an 80% chance of being struck down or captured.
In addition to providing skilled manpower, Douglas pointed to the fact that one-third of British oil supply was via the Caribbean – also a primary supplier to Germany though after the war broke out their supply failed. By 1940 the only source of bauxite was the Caribbean, and the US was its highest importer with the UK dependent on the supply chain for aluminium for munitions and aircraft, as well as shipbuilding.
In 1942 February Nazi Germany launched the Battle of the Caribbean, which became the most dangerous shipping zone in the world – Douglas claims “All the ships lost to U-Boats in the conflict sunk in the Caribbean,” with the ocean around Tobago, a hotly contested source of oil, flagged as a key conflict zone and during the skirmishes rationing and blackouts were introduced.
Post-war, rebuilding war damaged infrastructure and building new institutions such as the NHS required skilled workers, 1.3 mn was the shortage. In June 1948 the Empire Windrush arrived although not the first wave of immigration from the Caribbean – 1947 about 300 relocated to the UK. The Windrush had almost 1,000 onboard of whom 800 were from the Caribbean.
During the war, 150,000 African American troops came over in the build-up to the Battle of Britain although after peaking at 200,000 the African population declined as were expatriates.
The Race Relations Act in 1965 was a legal milestone in making racism and acts of racial persecution and violence a criminal offence.
However in 2018 the Windrush scandal broke, with long-time British citizens who had emigrated after the war from colonial territories were denied access to healthcare and the right to work where those without proof of citizenship suffered mass deportation. All these events contributed to
“Changing this country making a multi diverse society with Britain today having ethnic diversity as one of its key strengths.”
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