6 December 2007

Put values centre stage of immigration reform says Byrne

In a speech to think tank, Demos, the Borders and Immigration Minister underlined the vital significance of the values agenda set out by the Home Secretary in her speech yesterday.

Liam, who has spent two months listening to groups across the country about what British residents want newcomers sign up to said:

“What emerges from the debate I’ve listened to is British reason at its finest. Sophisticated, intelligent views and a profound sense of fairness and tolerance for a Britain in which we live and let live and actually try a bit harder to be a bit more welcoming, and a bit less shy about saying hello. We are not a nation of Alf Garnetts.

“But the deal we want to put on the table is not unconditional. On the contrary: the rules are unambiguous; speak the language, obey the law, and make sure you're paying your taxes like the rest of us. It is a very British tough-minded fairness. And there is a sense in the public mind that the sooner newcomers start on the type of journey we have in mind, the better.”

The results of Liam's listening tour will help inform a draft Immigration Reform Bill to be published next year.

Predicting that the debate about values, identity and standards is about to move closer to the centre of the stage, Liam argued that it is vital that Labour moves aggressively to seize the high ground or risk ceding the debate to the right, as has happened in the US and France.

Liam added:

“The conservative argument is simple (and wrong). Shared values, argue the neo-cons, are best preserved in tradition. And tradition is pickled best in 'traditional institutions'. So rollback the state and let what de Tocqueville called 'the art of association' flourish. But the Right is wrong. Traditional institutions alone are just not enough to reaffirm the 'ties that bind us'.”

As an alternative, Liam has called for a new burst of civic inventiveness to match the energy and organisation of the pre war progressive era, embracing both constitutional and immigration reform.

He concluded his speech by setting out the need for a new phase of immigration reform centred on the journey newcomers take once they arrive in Britain:

“We can overhaul the rules about who we let in - as our points system will soon accomplish. We can transform the way we police our borders as we will with our single border force. But the vital third piece of the puzzle is the journey a newcomer might take once they are here.”

Click here for Liam's speech in full.