Anannya, Ο. (2014) “The Debate About Integration“, Politics in Britain – Ideas on Europe, 25 September.
Integration of migrants in the United Kingdom, more culturally and socially different than British people, can give way to creating a much more diverse society. It would beget stronger communities of people more aligned to British interests and more eager to erase out the presence of any form of extremism, prejudice or intolerance towards sundry people.
Migration is a relatively old concept for this country because there have been many people over generations who have come to live in the UK from across the world, owing to the British Empire. Apart from gaining new skills and working hard to provide for themselves and their families, they have contributed magnanimously to their neighbourhoods and localities. It is an English tradition to treat people no matter how different from us with fairness and respect.
In recent years, with the enlargement of the European Union, there has been much talk about increased immigration, with about 22 percent of people considering race relations and immigration an important issue but no developed formal integration program exists in the country. Migrants from the EEA form the largest overseas-born group in the UK, while migrants from outside the EEA rarely settle in the UK or earn British citizenship through naturalisation.
Integration is vital to the creation of a more robust national identity. It can help prevent the rise of growing unemployment, educational underachievement, welfare dependency, social segregation, increased costs to the public purse and community tensions. Initiatives that could act as a basis for successful promotion of integration include: funding for local projects in areas with significant numbers of new migrant arrivals, community cohesion policies such as summer youth programs, school-twinning projects and ethnically mixed housing policies. Furthermore, increased civic participation amongst migrants in religious, political and cultural capacities can also contribute to integration.
Relevant posts:
- El Sehrawey, A. (2014) “Book Review: The Europe Dilemma: Britain and the Drama of EU Integration by Roger Liddle“, LSE EUROPP, 21 July.
- Tzogopoulos, G. (2014) “Britain Outside Europe? The Greek View, Athens will only have to lose with Brexit“, IP Journal, German Council on Foreign Relations, 25 June.
- Policy Network, (2013) “Britain’s Financial Services Industry in a Changing Europe“, A Policy Network Report for the City of London Corporation, 22 November.