Manifesto > Moral Purpose: Valuing families, rebuilding communities (Introduction) | Families and Children | Policing and Criminal Justice | Population and Migration | Rural Communities

Moral Purpose: Valuing families, rebuilding communities

Free and open societies should not be hostile to immigration and indeed can benefit from it.  Placing artificial barriers where there is clearly an unmet demand for labour would be wrong, and we oppose all proposals for a 'moratorium' or ban on immigration.

We support the principle of the free movement of labour within Europe.  Although there may need to be temporary restrictions in place to prevent a sudden and unmanageable surge in new immigrants, such as the current controls on those coming from Romania and Bulgaria, there are tangible benefits in allowing free movement between countries at a similar level of economic development.

Better integration of immigrants and ethnic minority communities that have already settled in the UK must be a key priority.  Proper integration means not only recognising and respecting people from different cultural backgrounds but also seeking to build common ground and shared values. Although learning the language is the most basic level of integration, it is important to follow this approach through into other areas of policy. For example, segregation of different ethnic communities in housing and education is not healthy for our society. It is important that all sections of the community have access to learning and work opportunities.

We believe that we should continue to welcome people who wish to contribute to our society.  Those wishing to take out UK citizenship should be offered advice and support, including English classes, to integrate into our society. We would introduce a two-year provisional citizenship for new immigrants with full citizenship dependent on law-abiding behaviour.

We support the granting of asylum to individuals fleeing persecution.  We recognise that procedures have been strengthened in recent years to avoid abuse of the system and welcome this as it means that the public can have greater confidence that the system is working as it should.  The major change we would now propose is simply to allow asylum seekers to work whilst their applications are being considered.

There are also, of course, many illegal immigrants in the UK - possibly around half a million - many of whom are exploited by unscrupulous employers.  We need to strengthen procedures and clamp down on illegal gangmasters.  However, it is clearly unrealistic to expect large numbers of illegal immigrants, who have been living here for many years in many cases, to be deported.  We need to review ways of giving a path to citizenship for some without encouraging others to enter or stay in the UK illegally.

While most immigrants contribute positively to society, recent terrorist activity in the UK reminds us that we must always reserve the right to reject those who may pose a threat to our security.

« Back | Up | Next »