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The article discusses the Reflection Papers published by the European Commission (EC), which focus on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and defence and the social dimension of European Union (EU) activity. Topics include Great Britain's decision to leave the European Union, also known as Brexit, Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) that includes migration management and national security, and EU's budget revenues.

Recently published research contends that concern about immigration is weakening the British political system by creating distrust in the elites and institutions in this system. Some may challenge this finding because the public opinion data used to illustrate this relationship is limited to the period of the recent Labour government, raising the possibility that it was an artefact of that era and thus may no longer hold. Using the most recent round of the European Social Survey (2010-11), this paper investigates whether this finding holds in the present era. The findings indicate that under the current Conservative-Liberal Democratic government, concern about immigration is still related to negative perceptions of the political system. This finding, along with those reported in previous research, points to potentially serious negative consequences for the functioning of the British political system, which are discussed in the concluding section of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key part of the debate about the UK's membership of the EU is concern about levels of migration and the impact upon security. This paper assesses how much impact EU membership has on each of these issues, and examines the likely impact of leaving the EU in each of these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests that the definition of the white working class, as an ethnic majority, is fluid and shifting, in contrast to its conventional portrayal as a fixed and static group. They are more than simply voiceless and 'left behind', especially with regard to views of multiculturalism, immigration and social change. Using data from two recent studies, we see a range of views expressed by white working class communities, which underlines the need for care to be taken when attempting to describe common-sense views on these polemical subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article examines how the changing political debate in West Midlands’ constituencies influenced Powell's thinking, and how the area reacted to his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. It looks at local perceptions of Commonwealth immigration in the West Midlands. It contrasts largely tolerant Wolverhampton with attitudes in nearby Smethwick; here a small number of race propagandists shaped local feeling through the columns of the Smethwick Telephone. The article considers their campaign, and the notorious victory of the hardliner Peter Griffiths in the 1964 general election. Powell and allies learnt there was electoral mileage in the ‘race card’, then campaigning on the issue. The article details the strength of subsequent local support after his Midlands Hotel speech, a loyalty only fortified in response to the execration of a horrified metropolitan elite and lasting until his defection from the Conservative party in 1974. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration is one of those issues about which everyone has an opinion, but those opinions are rarely informed by facts. Rather, they are sustained by feelings of alienation, powerlessness and fear. That governments draft legislation based on these depictions is highly problematic. It demonstrates at best a capitulation of leadership and at worst an explicit acceptance of a racist right‐wing populist agenda. When combined with systemic misogyny, a framework of oppression emerges that makes the lives of migrant and refugee women even more precarious than it is for men. These, like many other aspects of the 'hostile environment', force people into destitution; they fear reprisals by the system if they speak out and in many cases feel ashamed. All this sounds, and is, rather bleak, but it is not the complete story. Despite the hostility—or because of it—there is a thriving grassroots community of solidarity that is organising resistance against misogyny and the hostile immigration policy. The way forward starts with the reframing of the 'good/bad refugee/migrant' discourse from which a new narrative emerges: that of a fair immigration system based on principles of dignity, justice and welcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discuses the report on immigration from the House of Commons Select Committee in Great Britain. Information on the controversy which followed British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's statement regarding immigrants; Substance of the report; Recommendations for entry and settlement.

Overall, if you look at all the jobs and all the wages, not just native jobs and wages, there will be more low-paid work in the economy when there is high immigration of workers into so-called low-skilled jobs. This government sees immigration policy, along with the minimum wage, as the easiest lever to pull to counter low pay and poor conditions. LONG BEFORE Boris Johnson gave his robust view of business opposition to Brexit, the Conservative Party had an ambivalent relationship to business interests. [Extracted from the article]

In this article, we consider the causes of the increase in voting for anti‐immigration parties in western Europe in the past decade. We first note that one of the most commonly assumed reasons for this increase is an associated increase in anti‐immigration sentiment, which we show is likely to be false. We also outline the major theoretical explanations, which we argue are likely to be incomplete. We then introduce our proposed explanation: these parties have benefitted from a sharp increase in the salience of immigration amongst some voters. We show that there are strong correlations over time between the salience of immigration and the polling of such parties in most western European countries. We argue that aspects of immigration in the last decade have activated pre‐existing opposition to immigration amongst a shrinking segment of the populations of western European states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Citizens' Assembly on Brexit was a major exercise in deliberative public engagement conducted in autumn 2017. It brought together fifty randomly selected members of the public for two carefully structured weekends of listening, learning, reflecting and discussing. Assembly members considered what post‐Brexit arrangements the UK should pursue, focusing on trade and migration. On trade, most members wanted the UK to pursue a bespoke arrangement with the EU and rejected the option of leaving the EU with no deal. On migration, most wanted the UK to maintain free movement of labour while using already available policy levers to reduce immigration numbers. These findings provide unique insight into informed public opinion on vital, pressing policy questions. The Assembly also illustrates the valuable role that such deliberative exercises could play in UK democracy. We suggest they could be particularly helpful for unlocking progress on issues such as the future of social care, that are often felt to be 'too difficult' to handle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article examines the impact of Enoch Powell's speech on Britain's numerous right‐wing fringe groups and their response—in particular, that of the National Front, who benefitted the most from Powell's intervention on race and for a brief moment became Britain's fourth political party. It begins by looking at the growth of post‐World War II British fascism and how its emphasis switched from anti‐Semitism to anti‐colonial immigration. Throughout the piece, the relationship between Britain's far right and the Conservative party is examined to show how Powell inadvertently blurred the lines between the two. The article concludes with the 1979 general election victory of Margaret Thatcher who, by adopting Powellite themes but in more measured tones, destroyed the National Front's dream of an electoral breakthrough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article examines Enoch Powell's ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in relation to the Conservative party. Powell's speech created an additional challenge to a Conservative party already weakened by the loss of the 1964 and 1966 elections and by the failure of the newly elected leader, Edward Heath, to impress his authority decisively on the party. Powell had some parliamentary support but his real following was concentrated in the Conservative grass roots. Powell lost the support of the liberal‐minded Shadow Cabinet; but after 1968 the Conservatives nevertheless moved to the right on the issue, especially after Mrs. Thatcher became leader in 1975. His speech has cast a long shadow as the party has sought to modernise in more recent times and to appeal to a more racially diverse electorate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Integration politics experienced a postcolonial crisis in the late 1960s. This was a crisis driven by the simultaneous and inter‐related eruption of Powellism and Black Power. This article uses the crisis of integration politics to show the Powellite conjuncture from its other side, as it played out in the reconstitution of black British politics. It shows how black activists responded to the rise of Powellism by demanding that the politics of integration be either abandoned or reframed, to more fully shake out the colonial inheritances that lurked within it. The integration proposed by the postwar project of race relations was problematic from its inception; Black Power used Powell's intervention to expose these problems and demand change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which free movement of people has become the central issue of the British government's renegotiation and referendum campaign on the UK's relationship with the European Union ( EU) risks obfuscating at least three central issues: why immigrants are coming to the UK; what impact EU migrants are having on the UK; and what can be done to effectively regulate such inflows. It is, however, not just the eurosceptics and the British government, but also 'in campaigners' and other EU member states, who risk perpetuating a number of widely held misconceptions about free movement and immigration for political reasons. Buying into such myths risks undermining attempts to have a more honest and more evidence-based debate about immigration and migrant integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines two recent refugee crises in Calais: the debate around the Sangatte refugee camp, which was resolved in 2002, and the ongoing problems in Calais, which have been escalating since autumn 2014. It asks: why are these events repeating? What, if anything, has changed between 2002 and now? It points to a number of new developments since 2002, such as growing numbers of migrants worldwide, and a changing European political and legal landscape. But it also argues that a number of the same factors that led to the Sangatte crisis are still shaping events and responses in Calais today. They concern the persistent shortcomings of European states' immigration controls, the failures to reach Europe-wide and international agreements on migration, and the inadequacies of international bodies such as the UNHCR and the 1951 Refugee Convention which it upholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1999 Australian republic referendum was intended to finalise the nation-building process begun in the mid-nineteenth century and to exploit growing national consciousness in the wake of post-World War II cosmopolitan immigration and the 1988 bicentenary. Despite strong republican support recorded by opinion polls and a broadly favourable media climate the proposal to institute a republic was defeated. The article summarises the campaign and explores some of the reasons that have been advanced, including the part played by the prime minister, for its outcome; it concludes that ‘the model’ might have been a contributory factor, but probably not the sole explanation. A re-run is unlikely before the election of a sympathetic, probably Labor, government. The episode illustrates the immensity of the difficulty facing republicans in Britain where similarly favourable conditions are inconceivable in the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the British Asian Muslims and the Rushdie affair. Citation of the affair as a racial taunt in Great Britain; Impact of the Muslims to the immigration laws and rules; Creation of historical empires by the Muslim world.