Groucho Marxism

Local elections are on the horizon here in the UK and immigration is likely to be one of the main issues on the agenda. So I decided to take a look at net migration figures to understand the scale of the issue, or whether it should even be considered an issue at all. Contrary to popular belief, the British government has a good handle on the number of people coming into and out of the country. The data are compiled and updated quarterly and are freely available on the website of the Office for National Statistics. These figures show that over the last 15 years or so, net migration to the UK has averaged around 350,000 people per year. That sounds like a lot, but 350,000 people represents just 0.5% of the UK’s total population.

However, this means that over the last 15 years, 5 million or so people have been added to the UK population purely as a result of migration. That tallies with overall population statistics, which show that the population of the UK has increased from around 64 million to around 69 million over that same 15 year period. Furthermore, projections suggest that if current trends continue the population will grow further to around 80 million by 2050. It is clear therefore that the UK’s population has increased significantly in recent years due to migration and is likely to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. To deny that is to deny basic facts. The real question is: does it matter? This is a much more difficult question to answer.

One way in which migration-driven population increase is claimed to have a negative impact is by putting pressure on public services. We should not be fooled by this argument, regardless of how superficially plausible it seems. It is true that our public services are under immense strain; but this is entirely down to a combination of privatization and a lack of proper funding. To those who ask where the money for increased funding would come from, we only need to point to the fact that the majority of immigrants that come into this country are of working age and therefore add to the government’s tax revenue. Or better still, we can point out that a sovereign currency-issuing government like the UK does not face any fiscal constraints when it comes to funding public services.

Another way in which the migration-driven population increase is claimed to have a negative impact is through increased housing costs. House prices and rents have certainly risen sharply in recent decades; but this is mainly due to government policies designed to benefit the property-owning class. The vast majority of migrants coming into this country are poor, struggle to pay rent, and can only dream of getting on the housing ladder. They are victims of the housing crisis rather than perpetrators. The true explanation for the crisis lies in the fact that around 20% of households are in the UK – roughly 5 million households in total – are now in the private rented sector. (The comparable figure was around 10%, or 2.5 million households, in the early 2000s.)

One way in which immigration does have a negative impact is by driving down wages. Studies have found that increased immigration often leads to reduced wages, particularly at the bottom end of the wage distribution. This explains why it is those on lower wages who tend to be most averse to immigration. Perhaps they aren’t just racist after all! This makes perfect sense in light of Marx’s concept of the ‘reserve army of labour’: the unemployed and underemployed segment of the population in a capitalist economy which suppresses wages and maintains a compliant workforce. It also explains why significant immigration is still allowed to occur, despite it being vehemently opposed by a large section of the British electorate.

In short, immigration is allowed to continue because it benefits the capitalist class, by ensuring that wages remain low. Working people understand that immigration worsens their material conditions but tend to blame immigrants rather than the people they should blame: namely, capitalists. Better yet, they should blame the capitalist system which divides people into two mutually antagonistic groups – workers and capitalists. The fact that working people resort to blaming immigrants for their problems is a huge benefit to the capitalist class as it provides a convenient scapegoat for declining public services, unaffordable housing, and stagnating wages. It is a consequence of the deliberate diminution of working class consciousness that has being going on in this country for many decades.