Sunday 19 April 2009

Foreign Concessions

3 May will be the 30th anniversary of Mrs. Thatcher's election triumph.
As she stood on the steps of 10 Downing Street she proclaimed that though other Prime Ministers had not kept their election promises, she would.
Her most famous saying as Prime Minister was "The lady is not for turning!"
Yet she did not keep her 1979 election promise to restrict migration to the UK. Specifically, to "end the concession" to foreign men that allows them to live and work in the UK through the expedience of marriage.
"Concession" is the right word, for several reasons.
One is that marriage to a British woman (or a woman with "indefinite leave to remain" in the UK) does not prevent them from living together in his country.
Another is that it is men principally who contest the territorial imperative.
Another is that migration imbalances the ratio of the sexes of young people.
Paul Foot points out in Immigration and Race in British Politics that there would not be so many Asian and Afro-Caribbean people in the UK if it were not for the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act. This is because the few (young men) who were here intended going back to their own countries after they had made some money. But they could not leave after July 1962 (when the Act came into force) because they feared they would not be allowed back in again (on an unrestricted basis). Also, there was a rush of young men to enter the UK in the first half of 1962.
Naturally, those who "could not" leave looked for native British women to marry.
Furthermore, those who missed the deadline and entered the UK as tourists or students would look for someone to marry in order to stay here permanently.
It is normal for men who go to other countries to have a specific work reason to do so. That entitles them to a visa. When the job is finished, or they are replaced, they go home. The loophole of marriage means that not only can they find any work (or unemployment benefit) but they are legally entitled to deprive native British men of work and promotion in the name of "equality"!
No wonder the UK is a desirable destination. The efforts of our forefathers in spreading the English language is another reason. As is the ending of conscription in 1962.
Foreign and Commonwealth men who come here have children; progeny boosts their individual claim to the place and consolidates their community's power.
I used to want children - but not since the Summer of 1962.
Mrs Thatcher should have kept her word.

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