The morality of immigration

Moral Maze

BBC

Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 609 Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week it emerged that Abdul Ezedi, hunted by police after an attack on a woman and her daughters with a corrosive liquid, was granted asylum after being convicted of sexual assault. He'd converted to Christianity, which could have put him at risk in his native Afghanistan. It’s just the latest story stirring debate about one of the most divisive issues of our times - immigration. In 2022 net migration hit a record 745,000. That’s more people than live in many of Britain’s biggest cities. Last week the Office for National Statistics predicted that the population could rise by nearly 10% between 2021 and 2036. The overwhelming majority of immigrants are legal. Economists are split on the costs and benefits of immigration. Some suggest that it could help tackle a demographic timebomb as our population ages. Britain also attracts some of the world’s most capable and highly qualified people, driving up our wealth-creating potential. National life is enriched culturally and socially. Isn’t there also a moral imperative to open our doors to people from countries troubled by war, oppression and climate change? But immigration has been high for decades without a clear electoral mandate. Some neighbourhoods have been transformed, raising concerns over social cohesion. It’s added to the pressure on housing and on creaking public services. Is it right that whole industries rely on immigrants willing to work for low pay – social care, health and hospitality? What is a desirable level of immigration? How should the balance be struck between the demands of our economy and social cohesion? What’s the moral case for immigration?

Presenter: Michael Buerk Producer: Jonathan Hallewell Assistant Producer: Linda Walker Editor: Tim Pemberton

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:04.9	Good evening, the haunting images of a disfigured fugitive have given a focus this week to perhaps the most divisive issue of our times, immigration.
0:14.2	Abdul Azedi came here illegally, committed sexual offences, and yet after several unsuccessful appeals was allowed to stay,
0:22.2	apparently because he claimed to have converted to Christianity. It would be manifestly unfair to
0:27.7	suggest a man wanted for an horrific chemical attack on a woman and children is in any way
0:32.8	typical of migrants generally. But it does give ammunition to those who say immigration, who and how many,
0:39.2	is out of control. The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show immigration
0:44.9	drove our population up by a record three quarters of a million people in 2022, very nearly twice
0:52.0	the population of Manchester in a single year. It projects we'll have another
0:56.3	six million, twice the population of Wales, by 2036. Critics say this will place an unbearable
1:03.6	strain on a beleaguered health service on already inadequate housing on overstretched schools
1:09.2	and other services. The other side says many of those services
1:13.1	would collapse altogether without immigrants to come and work in them. The economic case for the
1:18.6	benefits of immigration is complex and contested, that the influx of younger migrants helps counter
1:25.1	the demographic difficulties of an ageing population less so.
1:29.4	The starker divide is between those who say immigration energises and enriches our culture,
1:35.6	and those who think something they've never been given a say about is changing society in ways
1:40.8	they don't like. What limits, if any, should we put on those who want to come and live with us?
1:47.0	That's our moral maize tonight.
1:48.2	The panel, Ash Sarkar, from the Navarra Media Group, the observer columnist Sonia Soda,
1:53.3	the historian Tim Stanley and the priest and polemicist Giles Fraser.
1:57.8	I start with you, Giles.
	...

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