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| Are you thinking what we're thinking? That was the question Michael Howard famously asked during the 2005 general election campaign. Like William Hague before him, Howard portrayed Britain as an increasingly "foreign land" which crime and immigration had transported to hell in a handcart. "It's not racist to impose limits on immigration" insisted billboards across the country, with Howard explaining that while "some people say this is racist. It's not. It's common sense." Whether "common sense" or not, Howard's relentlessly negative portrayal of multicultural Britain was roundly rejected by voters, just as Hague's had been before him. A decade later and it's another opposition leader who wants to know if you're thinking what he's thinking about immigration. "It is not prejudiced to worry about immigration," Miliband told voters in Thurrock in almost identical terms to Howard nine years earlier. "Immigration has been changing communities fast, including here in Thurrock– a growing west African community, people coming from eastern Europe." Miliband's direct appeal to voters scared about African immigrants 'coming over here' went further even than Howard or Nigel Farage would have dared. It was couched in a wider speech praising the benefits of immigration, but it was surprising all the same. Here was the Labour leader, a liberal child of immigrants, using similar language and tactics to those his party had condemned the Conservatives for using a decade before. Miliband's shift in direction met opposition from unlikely quarters. On the one hand, Left-wing stalwart Diane Abbott attacked Miliband for 'stooping to Ukip's level' in his speech. "The fact that he felt the need to talk about Africans goes to the heart of the policy challenge posed by trying to chase anti-immigrant votes," she wrote in the Guardian. "In popular parlance 'immigrant' means anyone who is black, brown or foreign-looking, and what anti-immigrant opinion actually yearns for is to see fewer of these people on their high street. She warned of trying to outbid Ukip on immigration because: "pandering to anti-immigrant feeling actually raises expectations no government can deliver on." Abbott's comments could easily be dismissed by the Labour leadership. She has long been a thorn in various Labour leaders' sides and was sacked as shadow public health minister last year after failing to show sufficient loyalty to Miliband. However the comments from Tony Blair were far harder to brush off. Blair warned Miliband that that there were no votes for Labour in aping Ukip. "It's not as if yielding to that pressure from Ukip has done the Conservatives any good," he told the Today programme. "And for the Labour party if it tries to follow Ukip [on its anti-immigration platform], then all that will happen is it will confuse its own supporters and it won't draw any greater support." Miliband did not respond to either Abbott or Blair's comments. Indeed he may not even be aware of them. As an interview with Buzzfeed revealed this week, the Labour leader does not read or watch the news and relies on his aides to 'let him know what is going on in the world.' But if some oracle did manage to relay them to the Labour leader then he should be more than a little worried by them. After all Blair came up against exactly the kind of anti-immigration campaign Labour are currently facing from Ukip, back in 2005. Blair won that election, not by mimicking Howard on immigration, but by winning the campaign on his own strengths and his own ground. If Miliband decides to ignore that lesson and instead adopts the tactics of Michael Howard instead, then he will head for the same fate as the Conservative leader. Of course Miliband doesn't need to go back as far as 2005 for an example of how this game can go wrong. As the Conservative party have only recently discovered, picking a fight over immigration is incredibly dangerous, when you have such little chance of winning it. Cameron's pledge to reduce immigration to the tens of thousands was an impossible promise to keep and it has only handed Ukip yet another stick to beat him with. Miliband should resist asking for a beating from the same stick. The truth is that as long as the economy continues to grow, immigrants will continue to come here. The only way immigration could be significantly reduced is if Britain pulled out of the European Union or if it fell into another recession. Neither are attractive prospects for a future Miliband government. Miliband presumably understands this, which is why he has instead resorted to vague promises to tackle low pay and the regulation of agency workers. Although worthy pledges in themselves, most voters will struggle to find the connection between these policies and their fears about West Africans and Romanians moving in next door. A premature funeral Earlier this week, campaigners marked the death of the BNP with a "funeral for fascism" in London. This seemed rather premature. While Nick Griffin's party has been killed off, the racism and prejudices his party represented have not. As campaigners continued their celebration of racism's death at the ballot box, Ukip's Harrow Chairman Jeremy Zeid demonstrated that it was still alive and well elsewhere. Zeid's claims that Labour had committed "ethnic cleansing" in London and his comments about the "absence of white faces" in the capital highlights the insurmountable problems Miliband faces on this issue. Because however far Labour are willing to march on immigration, Ukip will always be willing to march several miles more. And the problem with asking Nigel Farage's army what they're thinking on immigration, is that you're quite often not going to like what you hear. Best of newsLondon smog: Boris Johnson backs down in air pollution row Mayor gives in to demands to appear before pollution inquiry. Child detention: Immigration centres risk 'lasting psychological damage' Children exposed to terrifying and inappropriate conduct from officers. Coalition's reforms risk Newark by-election legal challenge, administrator complains The Newark by-election faces a greater risk of a legal challenge because of "inadequately performing Electoral Commission officials", a local council chief has said. Caroline Lucas points finger at media's Farage obsession Ukip's triumph in the European elections became a "self-fulfilling story" because the media's blanket coverage of Nigel Farage "squeezed out" other parties, Caroline Lucas has claimed. Collateral damage: Cable hit as Oakeshott detonates resignation statement Vince Cable knew about Matthew Oakeshott's polling, the peer has revealed, as he quits Westminster with a defiant call for Nick Clegg to resign 'Dumb' people shouldn't be allowed to vote says former Tory councillor People in Croydon 'let down' Conservatives by not voting for them. Local revolution? MP calls for citizens to take responsibility Rory Stewart calls for a "constitutional re-ordering" of local power bases European elections 2014: Results breakdown Here's our simplified region-by-region look at the 2014 European election results across the UK Best of Comment and AnalysisWhy 'none of the above' was the big winner of the European elections The European Parliament needs radical reform or it should be abolished. Comment: Forget living costs: Ed Miliband needs a misery index Labour leader needs simple measure to explain why life is hard in Britain. Podcast: ED Morel, a past master at the politics of dissent This is the story of ED Morel, the great unknown politician of the last century Four terrible options for the Liberal Democrats Here's what happens when you wargame four different kinds of Lib Dem coups. None of them are very pretty. How the Tories lost London The Conservatives face terminal decline in London and other cities. Ukip's European election results are not as good as they seem The 'earthquake' so widely predicted did not in the end materialise. Four things we've learned from the local elections All is not as it appears as the dust settles on the British political landscape. | Google sets up 'right to be forgotten' form after EU rulingThe EU proposal, and Google’s response in setting up a “right to be forgotten” form, are fraught with difficulties and will be impossible to implement, according to the IET. Help to Buy effect is muted on basis of numbers, says CMLThe combined impact of both the Help to Buy equity loan and mortgage guarantee schemes does not appear to be creating an amplifying effect on the more active parts of the UK housing market. Boeing receives 330-Minute ETOPS certification for 787sThe U.S. Federal Aviation Administration today approved additional extended operations (ETOPS) for the Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner. Animal welfare should be part of the national curriculum, say UK teachersWith the end of the school year creeping ever closer, a new survey reveals over ninety-five per cent of teachers say teaching children about animal welfare would help make them more compassionate and socially aware. Mental health charity calls for urgent action to prevent avoidable deathsThe national charity Rethink Mental Illness has welcomed a new Oxford University report which calls for urgent action to address physical health problems of people with mental illness. eBay’s cyber-attack represents a significant breachThe cyber-attack on eBay is a serious breach for the e-commerce giant and its customers says the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). News from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group of the Chartered Institute of TaxationCharity issues guide to help taxpayers pay the right amount. |
