Worries about immigration much greater issue than ever before
A lesson I learnt a long time ago is it’s impossible for people not to feel the way they are feeling and it’s almost as hard to persuade them to feel differently.
You can’t just tell folk they are wrong if the problem is staring them in the face, so it’s important to understand why they feel the way they do and try to address the cause.
Illegal immigration is now a top three concern for a fifth of Scots, up from just 4 per cent two years ago, and it can’t be put down to misinformation or imagination, and the growing number of protests cannot be dismissed as just the “far right” whipping up a storm.
Out knocking on doors every weekend, it has become patently obvious that worries about immigration have become a much greater issue than they ever were before, and I must admit it has come as something of a shock to me.
So often, the answer when asked to name top concerns starts with “I’m not a racist, but…” and I know immediately that unhappiness about the number of immigrants coming to Edinburgh, be they asylum seekers or otherwise, is near the top of their agenda.
This is not the Edinburgh I grew up in, where new permanent arrivals from abroad was never raised as a problem, but I’m speaking to people in South West Edinburgh every week, and so many are saying the same thing; “Edinburgh is changing in ways I do not feel comfortable about.” And it’s certainly no use telling them they are wrong to feel uncomfortable. They feel they way the feel, so why?
The last Scottish census revealed that nearly a quarter of Edinburgh residents, 23.5 per cent. were born outside the United Kingdom and that was in 2022, before the post-Lockdown surge, so the figure will be higher now.
It’s hard to tell how many immigrants are here illegally, but as a reasonable UK estimate is 900,000, it’s possible that maybe around 80,000 will be in Scotland. While Edinburgh isn’t quite a melting pot, it’s not unfeasible for the number of illegal migrants in Edinburgh to run well into four figures.
They all need somewhere to live, and the council is compelled to prioritise housing homeless people, but the numbers have been swollen by overseas arrivals to the point where normal social housing allocation has been suspended, and a large proportion of the new arrivals have been housed in Wester Hailes and the Calders. They are visible and that’s reflected in what I’m hearing.
The Scottish Government’s “New Scots refugee integration strategy” published last year simply commands that “Communities in Scotland understand integration interculturally and respect the diversity and strengths that New Scots bring.”
The accompanying delivery plan puts a huge onus on local authorities to provide all manner of services and initiatives to integrate new arrivals and it’s also a detailed guide for the authorities to ensure they get all the support and financial benefits available, which I know rankles with people who see their tax bills rising.
It’s no good showing local people, as the delivery plan advises, the benefits of cultural diversity when it just looks like an increasing burden, but it’s one that will be far easier to manage if those who have no right to be here are quickly removed.
Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Lothian