The Liberal Democrats have always been at their best when they’re brave – when we shout about things we believe in, even if they go against the current trend. Things that can tap into a seam of public opinion that is sympathetic but whose members have been wondering whether they are the only ones to think what they’re thinking.

At the end of a week that has seen Keir Starmer do his best Enoch Powell impersonation with his ‘island of strangers’ speech, we have an opportunity – nay, a responsibility – to stand up for immigrants to the UK. This is not just a wide open space in the political marketplace for us, although it’s certainly that. It’s a moral obligation that, if we perform it well, could go some way to restoring confidence in democracy’s ability to reflect decency and provide solutions to real problems.

We know what Reform UK thinks about migrants, and it’s been clear for some years that the Conservatives are cosying up to Reform, a direction being continued under Kemi Badenoch. But what was shocking about Starmer’s immigration plans is that Labour’s top brass have clearly worked out that their best option is to copy Reform, despite numerous case studies from mainland Europe showing that mainstream parties who ape the populists end up feeding them because voters prefer the real thing!

So who is speaking up for the immigrants now? This is a country that has 15% of its population born outside the UK, that has various sectors of the economy dependent on labour from overseas, that has a health and social care service that would come crashing down if it weren’t for foreign workers, to say nothing of a gastronomic culture where Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican and other restaurateurs are viewed positively. Certainly it would be good if many of the gaps in employment could be filled by British labour, but even in the best possible scenario that will only go so far.

This country therefore needs to be appreciative of – and welcoming towards – people who come to live and work here. Yet who in our political system is championing such people?

The Liberal Democrats need to make a stand against the perceived wisdom that says the Zeitgeist is against immigrants and therefore we have to echo – or at least show sympathy for – foreigner-sceptic sentiments. That ‘wisdom’ is indeed perceived; it comes largely from polling that is dependent on the question asked, and on ideas that have little factual basis being given credible status by media (mainstream and social). Of course we need to understand the angst and anguish that fuels the discontent that Nigel Farage feeds off, but to demonise foreigners because it’s what everyone in politics is doing is an insult to the Liberal tradition of tolerance and internationalism.

This doesn’t mean opening the floodgates – we need a controlled immigration policy. But we mustn’t close the doors to care workers who are willing – despite hostility from politics and government – to come here and work in our care sector. Most of all, we need a culture that celebrates and thanks immigrants who contribute to our economy and society. If we’re not the party doing that, who will be?

We have plenty of inconvenient truths to shout about. Starmer’s shameful ‘island of strangers’ speech talked about low-skilled and low-paid migrants in Britain. The figures don’t back that up – data from HMRC show the immigrant workforce is paid the same or slightly higher than the average UK-born workforce. And their dependents, the family hangers-on of Faragist hate-speech, are also successful in joining the workforce, as data from the ONS confirm. There is ample scope to say the emperor is not wearing clothes.

If Ed Davey floated the idea within his inner circle of a speech in which he thanks immigrants, and calls for us to celebrate the non-UK-born people who do so much for the fabric of British society, there would be concerns that the difference between celebrating people already here and the number of people coming to these shores would be conveniently lost in the rabble rousing indignation whipped up by Reform and the right-wing media.

It might be, but there are large numbers of decent people in this country who, while proud of their nationality and connection with their homeland, appreciate the contribution made by immigrants; and that immigrants with necessary skills will only continue to come if the welcome is moderately friendly. Such people will breathe a quiet ‘Hallelujah’ if the Liberal Democrats make a stand for what we believe is right, and what the vast majority of ‘middle England’ quietly believes is common decency.

When Paddy Ashdown stood up in 1989 for the right of Hong Kong residents with British passports to come to the UK, he was also going against the Zeitgeist of British politics. He was stating that the Liberal tradition is proudly internationalist and eager to see everyone given the opportunity to fulfil their potential, no matter where they come from. The Lib Dems were at a particularly low ebb at that point, but it was the right thing to do, and he was rewarded for it. In a political landscape where even those we thought were decent human beings are now happy to join the xenophobic chorus, we need to summon up that moral courage.

* Chris Bowers is a two-term district councillor and four-time parliamentary candidate. He writes on cross-party cooperation, was the lead author of the New Liberal Manifesto, and is unofficial coordinator of the Yorkists.