#publisher alternate (BUTTON) Close Skip to main content sign in * Comment activity * Edit profile * Email preferences * Change password * Sign out become a supporter subscribe search jobs dating more from the guardian: * dating * jobs change edition: * switch to the UK edition switch to the US edition switch to the AU edition International * switch to the UK edition * switch to the US edition * switch to the Australia edition The Guardian * home * › UK * education * media * society * law * scotland * wales * northern ireland * home * UK selected * world * sport * football * opinion * culture * business * lifestyle * fashion * environment * tech * travel browse all sections close Immigration and asylum Misunderstandings and mistakes on immigration to Britain Passengers arrive at Gatwick Airport ‘We do not have a migrant problem but we do have a massive problem with companies, company bosses and shareholders addicted to a never-ending supply of cheap labour,’ writes Michael Gold. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA Letters Wednesday 21 September 2016 18.33 BST * Share on Facebook * Share on Twitter * Share via Email * (BUTTON) View more sharing options * Share on LinkedIn * Share on Pinterest * Share on Google+ * Share on WhatsApp * Share on Messenger * * (BUTTON) Close Stephen Kinnock oversimplifies the immigration issue (The need now is to manage immigration, 19 September). Yes, it was an issue, but in difficult times underprivileged groups find a scapegoat. Some places with large immigrant communities, notably London, voted to remain, as did the whole of Scotland. The relentless anti-immigrant propaganda in the popular press played a major part in swaying leave voters. In the last year alone Germany took in around 1 million refugees, an astonishing figure. Yes, there have been problems, but the sky has not fallen in and Germany is not about to leave the EU. Poorer people living in deprived areas with few amenities feel the growing income gap. They read about absurd salaries and bonuses, and note the ostentatious flaunting of wealth. Meanwhile they are subjected to cruel cuts in benefits (which should be called entitlements) plus bedroom tax and the rest. It is a severe indictment of our society that thousands need to resort to food banks. Those in work are in many cases subjected to harsh working conditions, low pay and little or no security. Some were taken in by the blatant lies such as the untold extra millions promised for the NHS. Jonathan Lynn (Brexit means Brexit, G2, 19 September) expresses well why we should have nothing but contempt for our foreign secretary. He kept us waiting for his decision because it was so close that he found it difficult to make up his mind, and then in a Damascene conversion became a Brexit fanatic overnight. Yes, we need a just and compassionate policy on who enters the country, but this needs to be separated from racist xenophobia and should certainly not be a response to it. Joseph Cocker Leominster, Herefordshire • In calling for limits on EU immigration, Stephen Kinnock falls into the same mistake that has made the political left in the UK a tired, toothless imitation of the right. It caves in to the Conservative narrative instead of developing one of its own, much like Ed Miliband’s disastrous campaign. Restricting immigration not only addresses the wrong issue but it simultaneously legitimises it. Labour should be addressing the anger of many leave voters by attacking decades of spending cuts to public services, catastrophic housing policies, and the decline of unions. Brexit negotiations could serve as a nationwide platform for demanding increased minimum wages, extended public investment, and stronger welfare – all of which would address the exploitation of both underpaid British and low-skilled EU workers. Failing to provide an alternative vision and falling back on blaming immigration would not only do injustice to the fraction of the British electorate that currently feels disenfranchised, it would also doom the future of the new left. Thu Thuy Phan and Grant McDonald University of Oxford • Stephen Kinnock thinks we need to manage migration but he has misunderstood the problem. We do not have a migrant problem, but we do have a massive problem with companies, business bosses and shareholders addicted to a never-ending supply of cheap labour. The UK is a low-wage economy, as is shown by the £30bn a year spent on in-work benefits, which are nothing more than a taxpayers’ subsidy to employers paying low wages. It is not some bureaucratic, expensive work permit system that is needed but a genuine living wage that is properly enforced. Michael Gold London • I am a Guardian member; I knocked on doors for remain; I have campaigned for Labour or the Liberal Democrats at every election since 1997; I am horrified beyond words by the rise of Ukip and the increase in racial violence in this, my country (Embassies log growth in attacks after EU vote, 19 September). Furthermore I recoil from Stephen Kinnock’s proposal that potential immigrants should be sifted on the basis of how “useful” they are – a horribly utilitarian and certainly unchristian way of assessing our fellow human beings. However, my emotions are offended and my head identifies stupidity when I walk through parts of London and see whole rows of shops whose signs are exclusively in Arabic, or, as I did recently, enter a shop in sleepy Hereford where there was not a word of English to be seen among the Polish labelling and signage. Such practices are discourteous and alienating to the native population, encourage insularity among the newcomers, and provide political ammunition for those determined to stir up prejudice and hatred. If good sense does not preclude them, surely the law should do so: the exclusive use of non-English signs and labels should be banned. (Civil servants can work out the details, including where Welsh and Gaelic fit into all this.) Some hardline racists will never accept immigration as a normal part of national life; but I would suggest, based not least on personal contacts, that there are huge numbers of decent people who could be weaned back from flirtations with Ukip and the politics of hate by simple measures such as this. Peter Geall Coventry __________________________________________________________________ More letters Topics * Immigration and asylum * Stephen Kinnock * EU referendum and Brexit * European Union * Migration * Foreign policy __________________________________________________________________ * Share on Facebook * Share on Twitter * Share via Email * Share on LinkedIn * Share on Pinterest * Share on Google+ * Share on WhatsApp * Share on Messenger * Reuse this content most viewed The Guardian back to top * home * UK selected * world * sport * football * opinion * culture * business * lifestyle * fashion * environment * tech * travel all sections close * home * UK selected + education + media + society + law + scotland + wales + northern ireland * world + europe + US + americas + asia + australia + africa + middle east + cities + development * sport + football + cricket + rugby union + F1 + tennis + golf + cycling + boxing + racing + rugby league * football + live scores + tables + competitions + results + fixtures + clubs * opinion + columnists * culture + film + tv & radio + music + games + books + art & design + stage + classical * business + economics + banking + retail + markets + eurozone * lifestyle + food + health & fitness + love & sex + family + women + home & garden * fashion * environment + climate change + wildlife + energy + pollution * tech * travel + UK + europe + US + skiing * money + property + savings + pensions + borrowing + careers * science * professional networks * the observer * today's paper + editorials & letters + obituaries + g2 + weekend + the guide + saturday review * sunday's paper + comment + the new review + observer magazine * membership * crosswords + blog + editor + quick + cryptic + prize + quiptic + genius + speedy + everyman + azed * video * UK News * › Immigration and asylum IFRAME: /email/form/footer/37 * Facebook * Twitter * Facebook * Twitter * all topics * all contributors * solve technical issue * complaints & corrections * terms & conditions * privacy policy * cookie policy * securedrop © 2017 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. [p?c1=2&c2=6035250&cv=2.0&cj=1]