The Violence on the Streets of the UK Is About Political Rhetoric, Not Migration

The violence which has erupted across the UK following the brutal attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie is being blamed on immigration by some quarters, yet it is not immigration which causes the divisions we see in society. Rather it is the way in which it is talked about, and the weaponisation of isolated incidents by a well-coordinated and highly motivated far right.

None of this is new. We have seen it countless times before. It is growing though. The riots in Northern Ireland and Scotland are not “concerned citizens” protesting, as the likes of Nigel Farage and others may claim. They are instead an attempt at bringing pogroms back to the United Kingdom, and all of this is fuelled not by migrants trying to just live their lives, but by the way in which they are talked about by politicians and the policies which are pushed to exclude them from society.

More than 700 women have been murdered in the UK since 2020, but we didn’t see those claiming that their actions are about “protecting women and girls” riot over those, because the majority of perpetrators were white. We don’t hear them talk about how 85% of those involved in grooming gangs and child sexual abuse are white, higher than their 82% proportion of the population. We haven’t heard populist politicians condemn how one in five of those involved in the 2024 far-right riots have since been convicted of domestic abuse. It is only when the suspect is a migrant or from an ethnic minority that we see the vitriol and hate come out. At no point has anyone asked Farage and his ilk to apologise for the actions of white men, but when minorities are involved, they are all expected to do so.

Despite the way in which the media reports crimes concerning those seeking asylum, and migrants in general, there is no evidence that they are more inclined to commit attacks than anyone else. In reality multiple studies have shown that asylum seekers can be less likely to, in part because they have far more to lose with the risks of being returned to a country where they face being tortured or killed.

But that reality doesn’t fit the narrative which appeals to so many politicians. It is easier to blame societal issues on migrants than it is to focus on the genuine problems within your largest voting blocs. 

A lot of this has been stoked by comments from the United States President, Donald Trump, and his acolytes, such as JD Vance, who continue to rail against immigration levels in the UK, and across Europe, emboldening an already growing far-right movement, as well as helping them raise funds. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, and his platform X, create a more divisive online atmosphere, which fosters far right views. While Musk himself may, arguably, not be influencing political decisions, and has split right wing parties with his shift in support from Reform to Restore, his influence in enabling the mobilisation of far right groups has already been seen to help bolster them.

Inevitably following violence like this we see the same type of response from senior politicians, a tepid “condemnation” of the attacks, followed by a call to “better understand the concerns of the rioters” and a push on even more hostile and divisive policies against migrants. This merely tells the far right that their actions are working. They ignore the condemnation and focus on how once again they have successfully got politicians to move ever closer to their aims of removing not only all migrants, but all non-white citizens as well.

A key thing here is that so called “concerns” which politicians claim they should be listening to are not based on evidence. When you factor for age, often younger, gender, mainly men, and location, predominately deprived areas, there is very little disparity between migrants and native citizens in terms of who actually commits crimes. The problem is that when people just take a per capita statistic they are looking at predominately younger men when talking about migrants, especially asylum seekers, against the whole population, including 82-year-old grandmothers living in wealthy suburbs of London. 

It isn’t even as if the politicians stoking this hatred and racism can claim they are doing it in respect of the families or those who have been attacked. In both the case of Stephen Ogilvie’s family in Belfast, and Henry Nowak’s, whose murder was claimed to be the spark for recent riots in Southampton, the relatives specifically called for calm and respect for migrant communities. Those calls were pushed aside by right wing politicians who only cared about what would help them boost their messages of division.

There are serious issues in the UK, and elsewhere, including the United States. Rising prices and unaffordable houses, unemployment and crumbling infrastructure. People are struggling, and when they are struggling they become easy marks for snake oil selling populists. But the issues are not down to immigration. In fact, without immigration they would be far, far, worse. One particular study estimated that for every 100 migrants in an economy they create, not remove, create, four new jobs. We know that migrants contribute more to the economy than they ever take out, something which is the complete opposite for native born citizens overall. 

It should not be about how much money someone brings in though, or how many jobs they provide for others. There is a basic level of decency and respect for life here. Respect which politicians in their ever more inhumane calls for “controls” ignore.

The history of fascism shows us that fascists don’t gain power with actual solutions to genuine issues. They gain power by providing people who are desperate with a scapegoat for their troubles. That is what we are seeing in the UK right now.

We have already seen the likes of Reform and the Conservatives talking about removing the UK from international human rights treaties. We have seen Labour talk about overturning basic rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights from people seeking asylum. This is what the fascists and far right want. What those following them never seem to grasp is that the removal of rights never ends with one group. That is already being seen in the UK with the removal of basic rights from trans individuals and the disabled.

If politicians were serious about tackling division then it isn’t migrants they would be going after, it’s the far right and the populist politicians promoting them. Cohesive societies require supporting everyone, and that includes those not born in the country as much as those who are. When you build everyone up then everyone benefits. When you tear one group down everyone suffers.

We keep hearing arguments about “societal collapse” and “cultural loss,” the same arguments fascists have used every time they have tried to get into power. There’s no evidence to support the claims though. The UK’s culture is based on migration. Everything about it is influenced by migration. We aren’t seeing that change. Harking back to some false nostalgic image of a past which never existed is a political play, but not reality.

Migrants, including those seeking asylum, come to the UK to build lives. For the most part they just want to get on with those lives. When governments push ever more hostile policies against them it frames them as an “other.” They are told they are “lesser than.” That continues to fuel the narrative of the far right. 

It cannot even be claimed that this violence is about immigration. Those attacking homes and cars weren’t checking people’s identification. They were attacking communities based on who they saw living there, what those people looked like, how they sounded. The blame for this lies at the feet of politicians who continue to stoke hostility and scapegoating against migrants, not migrants themselves.

This pandering and appeasement of populists and the far right doesn’t just affect marginalised communities. History teaches us that it impacts all of us. Rights are inextricably interlinked. We have seen how attacks on migrants’ rights have been used to attack trans rights, which in turn are used to undermine women’s rights. We know that the same groups which organise violent racist riots are the same who promote misogyny and homophobia.  These riots and what they represent impact all of us, as does the threat of increasing far-right attitudes.

Featured image is Nigel Farage, by Gage Skidmore