Liberal Democrat Immigrants exists to represent those members of the Liberal Democrats who have chosen to come to live in the UK from elsewhere. It also seeks to represent the interests of immigrants to the UK in general and to highlight those issues that disproportionately affect immigrants.
The challenge for Liberal Democrats should not be âhow do we make a broken and inhumane system work a little bit less badly?â, but how we discard the broken system and in its place build something better, so that Britain can reclaim the reputation of an island of hope and welcome.
As you may have seen, the party is asking for membersâ opinions on immigration. As Lib Dem Immigrants, we are fully committed to a liberal immigration policy. This should have been great news.
Sadly, on reading the consultation document, all that excitement faded, to be replaced with frustration at the nitpicky, timid mess of leading questions.
- Expecting current policy and structures to be made fit for purpose with the barest of tweaks.
- Failing to distinguish between actual problems and perceived problems â and naively assuming that addressing perceived problems with more “robust” policy will somehow placate tabloid-fuelled xenophobia. (hint: it wonât).
- Focusing almost entirely on the benefits of immigration to the host country and barely at all on the benefits to the immigrants and their families.