Dr Mohammed Ali OBE, Founder and Chief Executive, QED Foundation
Over recent weeks, I have received a growing number of telephone calls and messages from people who are genuinely frightened about their future in Britain. Some are asking whether they should prepare to leave the country. Others fear that their children and grandchildren, many of whom were born and raised here, could one day be forced to leave.
I find this deeply troubling.
Having lived in Britain for almost 60 years and spent much of my working life promoting equality, integration and opportunities for disadvantaged communities, I want to offer some perspective, reassurance and common sense.
Recent reports of offensive remarks about ethnic minority communities, including comments attributed to some Reform UK representatives, have understandably caused alarm. Such comments must be challenged. However, we must distinguish between political rhetoric and the laws that govern our country.
There is no general policy requiring British citizens of immigrant heritage to leave Britain. British citizenship carries important legal protections. People cannot simply be deported because of their ethnicity, religion or family background. Although citizenship law contains limited exceptions, the frightening suggestion that entire generations of British families could simply be removed from the country is misleading.
It is perfectly legitimate in a democracy to debate immigration levels and policy. It is not legitimate to make millions of settled British citizens feel that their citizenship, identity and belonging are conditional.
Immigration is part of British history
Anti-immigrant hostility is nothing new—but neither is immigration itself.
In his important history Bloody Foreigners: The Story of Immigration to Britain, Robert Winder shows that migration is not a recent interruption to British history. It is one of the forces that created and continually reshaped Britain.
Romans, Normans, Huguenots, Irish labourers, Jewish refugees and, more recently, people from the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia have all contributed to the country Britain has become.
Winder also identifies a recurring pattern. Each new group of arrivals was initially treated by some people as alien, threatening or incapable of belonging. Over time, however, their skills, enterprise, culture and public service became woven into the fabric of British life. People once described as foreigners—and their children and grandchildren—became an inseparable part of the nation.
This longer historical perspective is important today. Jewish and other immigrant communities faced considerable prejudice during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the 1960s, Enoch Powell’s inflammatory rhetoric created widespread anxiety. During the 1970s, the National Front marched through British streets, spreading hostility towards Asian and Black communities. Similar movements have emerged in subsequent decades.
Yet Britain continued to change, develop and become more diverse.
Successive generations of immigrants established businesses, staffed hospitals, worked in factories, drove buses and trains, built homes and places of worship, served in the Armed Forces and entered universities. Their children and grandchildren became teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, entrepreneurs, scientists, councillors, parliamentarians and leaders in almost every part of British society.
I arrived in Britain from Pakistan in 1969, aged 12. I have witnessed prejudice and discrimination, but I have also witnessed remarkable progress. The Britain of today offers opportunities that would have seemed unimaginable when I first arrived. We should never forget how far we have come.
Britain continues to need immigrants
In 2007, economist Philippe Legrain published an important book entitled Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them. His central argument remains relevant: immigration is not simply a burden on receiving countries. Migrants contribute skills, enterprise, labour, innovation and economic growth.
Britain depends significantly on migrant workers in healthcare, social care, hospitality, transport, construction, technology, agriculture and many other sectors. The National Health Service, in particular, could not function as it does without people who were born overseas or whose parents came to Britain from other countries.
We also face a demographic challenge. As our population ages, Britain needs sufficient numbers of working-age people to sustain economic activity, pay taxes and help finance pensions, healthcare and services for older generations.
Immigration is not the only answer. Britain must also invest much more effectively in education, apprenticeships, vocational training and productivity. We must help people already living here to develop their skills and participate fully in the economy. But pretending that migrants are unnecessary ignores economic and demographic reality.
Migrants have helped to make Britain prosperous, and their contribution remains important to its future.
Do not let social media frighten you
One of my greatest concerns is the growing influence of sensational material circulating on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp.
A frightening video can reach thousands of people within hours. An inflammatory statement is repeated, exaggerated and presented as evidence that mass deportations are imminent. Too often, people accept such claims without checking whether they are true.
My advice is straightforward: do not allow anonymous commentators and social-media personalities to determine how you feel about your future.
Check information against reliable news organisations, official government guidance and appropriately qualified advisers. Do not forward alarming messages without first confirming their accuracy. Fear spreads quickly, but facts deserve equal attention.
What unites us is stronger than what divides us
There are encouraging signs that the values uniting British people remain stronger than the issues dividing us.
Writing in Third Sector, Adeela Warley, Chief Executive of CharityComms, highlighted research by Public First suggesting that people from different political, social and regional backgrounds continue to share fundamental values such as fairness, hard work and community.
These are precisely the values that generations of immigrant families have embraced and contributed to Britain. We should build on what unites us rather than allow those spreading division and fear to define our future.
Our future is here
Britain has strong equality legislation protecting people against discrimination based on race and religion. Freedom of religion, expression and association are fundamental features of our democratic society.
These protections are not perfect, and discrimination has certainly not disappeared. However, they provide important rights that communities should understand, defend and exercise.
I know that some families are discussing whether to return to Pakistan, Bangladesh or other ancestral countries. That is a personal decision, but it should be based on genuine opportunities and individual circumstances—not fear generated by political rhetoric or social media.
For many second- and third-generation families, Britain is the only home they have ever known. Their lives, education, friendships, careers and futures are here. Where exactly are they supposed to “go back” to?
My message, particularly to British Muslim and other ethnic minority communities, is simple: remain confident in your place in British society.
Encourage your children and grandchildren to obtain the best possible education, pursue apprenticeships and professional careers, establish businesses and participate fully in public life. Explore opportunities across every profession and sector. Build friendships and partnerships beyond your immediate communities.
Do not withdraw from British society. Become more involved in it.
Register to vote. Serve as school governors, magistrates, trustees and councillors. Join professional bodies and community organisations. Enter professions and institutions in which ethnic minorities remain underrepresented. Make your voices heard calmly, constructively and confidently.
Integration does not mean abandoning our faith, culture or heritage. It means participating fully in the life of the country while respecting the rights and identities of others.
I have lived here for almost six decades. Despite its imperfections, I continue to regard Britain as one of the best countries in the world in which to live, work, raise a family and practise one’s faith.
We should challenge racism wherever it appears, but we should not live in constant fear of it.
As Robert Winder’s history reminds us, Britain has never been a fixed or ethnically uniform country. It has been built and renewed by successive generations of people arriving, settling, contributing and belonging. We are part of that continuing British story.
We are not merely guests in somebody else’s country. We are citizens, neighbours, colleagues, taxpayers and contributors to British society.
Britain is our country. We have contributed to its past, we are part of its present, and we have every reason to be confident about our future.
We belong here.
