The drums of xenophobia beat ever louder, a monotonous, hollow rhythm designed to stir up the basest fears of the British public. The demagogues, with their stale rhetoric of “taking back control” and “stopping the boats,” paint a picture of a nation under siege, a land being overrun by a faceless, foreign horde. They speak of a country teetering on the brink of collapse, its public services buckling under the weight of an ever-growing population of “undesirables.” But this is a grand delusion, a carefully constructed piece of political theatre. We are told to fear the immigrant, but what exactly are we fearing?
We are told they are a drain on the public purse, a leech on the welfare state. The truth, however, is a rather inconvenient thing. Immigrants are, on average, a net fiscal positive to the United Kingdom. Studies from institutions like the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford and the Office for Budget Responsibility consistently find that migrants pay more in taxes than they consume in public services. In fact, one study projected that a migrant arriving at age 25 and earning the UK average will have a more positive lifetime fiscal contribution than a UK-born worker on the same salary, as the UK has not had to bear the cost of their education and childhood.
The narrative of immigrants “stealing jobs” is another phantom conjured for public consumption. Immigrants fill critical roles and help to address labour shortages, particularly in sectors such as healthcare and social care. Without them, our National Health Service would be in a state of terminal decline. Over 17% of all NHS staff are from overseas, and for nurses, that figure rises to 27%. These are not abstract statistics; these are the doctors, nurses, and care assistants who are the lifeblood of our public services.
And what of the claim that immigration leads to an increase in crime? The facts tell a different story. Research has found no correlation between the foreign-born share of the population and violent crime rates. While there has been a rise in property crime associated with a very small subset of asylum seekers, this is a minor effect and is dwarfed by the overall economic contributions of migrants. The political rhetoric, however, focuses on a few isolated, highly publicized cases, ignoring the broad, statistical reality.
The great lie is not that immigration presents challenges—any large-scale social shift does—but that these challenges are insurmountable or that they are a reason to turn our backs on a humane and pragmatic approach. The fear-mongering is not an honest reflection of a crisis, but a calculated political strategy. Politicians use the issue to distract from their own failures, to shift blame for economic stagnation and underfunded public services onto a convenient scapegoat. The public, often misinformed by sensationalist headlines, consistently overestimates the level of immigration. One survey found that the average person’s estimate of net migration was less than a tenth of the actual figure. This is not ignorance; it is the desired outcome of a propaganda machine.
Scotland’s Demographic Imperative
In Scotland, the need for immigration is not merely a matter of economic expediency but of demographic survival. The nation faces a unique and pressing challenge: a declining and aging native-born population. Since 2015, Scotland has experienced more deaths than births each year, a trend projected to widen in the coming decades. Data from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) shows that without immigration, Scotland’s population would be in steady decline. This demographic shift has profound implications for the country’s public services and economy. The working-age population is projected to fall significantly, placing an enormous strain on the healthcare system and social care, which already face acute labor shortages. The Scottish Government has consistently advocated for a distinct immigration policy, recognizing that attracting and retaining international talent is essential to fill critical roles, from healthcare professionals to skilled workers in burgeoning industries.
Immigration, therefore, acts as a vital counterbalance, ensuring that the country has a dynamic workforce to support its aging citizens and sustain economic growth.
The ultimate aim is to divide the people, to create an “us” and a “them,” to make us so busy fighting amongst ourselves that we forget who is truly pulling the strings. We are told to fear the person who looks or speaks differently, while our own leaders quietly dismantle the very institutions that hold our society together. The solution is not less immigration, but more honesty. A society that can’t look at the facts and have an adult conversation about them is a society in peril.
