Migration is driving down living standards, say Labour voters

42 comments

1. In other news, Starmer has just signed a trade deal with India making it easier for Indian workers to do work in UK and also not pay NI, making them even more cheaper to employ than British workers.

   Head in sand

2. So it’s not the rich selling the country from underneath everyone?

3. It’s nothing another 1.2 million people can’t fix! Come on people, let’s put our heads together and do a really big think!

4. >To what extent, if any, do you think higher levels of immigration had a positive or negative impact on your living standards?

   This is an example of a leading question. The question isn’t asking “do you think immigration policies post-Brexit had a positive or negative impact”, it’s asking about the impact of “higher levels of immigration”. To some respondents this may mean”higher than pre-Brexit”, to others it may mean “higher than post-Brexit”. It’s poor question design.

5. Migration is a great thing unless there is no strict control of it….

6. Yes its the immigrants and not all the multi-millionaire asset-stripping non-doms that the Telegraph is otherwise so fucking desperate to defend.

7. I’m not sure the Telegraph is a good source of news. 

8. The idea of governing a country based on what uninformed people happen to think is the real problem. The government should be clear on the pros and cons of immigration, and work accordingly based on what is going to improve living standards for the most people.

9. Living standards are down because billionaires hoard wealth and your rent’s half your paycheck. Immigrants didn’t do that. The people in charge did.

10. Maybe I had a fever dream but pre-Brexit we had far fewer immigrants coming to the UK?

11. Well it’s driving the immigrants living standards up

12. The scapegoat tactic seems to be working then, why don’t we blame the corporations who are actually to blame or the landlords who shouldn’t even be allowed to buy property in a game of monopoly

13. Literally the second line in the article on the BBC

    “The deal does not include any change in immigration policy, including towards Indian students studying in the UK”

    Just in case anyone is reaching for the Reform panic button.

14. The rich will continue to spout this bullshit and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh.

15. Hi guys. I am a chemical engineer with a PhD working in UK. Can you please elaborate on how I am driving down your living standards?

16. Ah so its the immigrants that have been ploughing our waterways with sewage – righto, my mistake.

    It was those pesky boaters who sold off our social housing and gave private firms the responsibility to provide short numbers on annual requirements whilst also delivering poorer standard builds – I see.

    It is Ahmed and Poitr who are solely responsible for the poor state of the roads, and I thought it was the underfunded highways / councils. I feel like such a twit.

    And its obviously and exclusively Johnny Foreigner’s fault that the NHS waiting times are so long, and here I was thinking that it was just another piece of infrastructure that had not been sufficiently grown and invested in.

    It is all so clear to me now.

17. Oh, it’s that thing this sub swears blind isn’t happening, that keeps happening.

18. If Fararge gets in then we truly have become as dumb as the USA

19. They’re not even talking about boat crossings, asylum seekers or illegal immigration, though the Telegraph’s choice of picture here is suggestive.

    They’re talking about **ALL immigration**. Anyone who is foreign born.

    This is simply a successful campaign of xenophobic radicalisation.

    Some nations of the UK seem to have completely adopted the idea that **all** foreigners, regardless of where they are from, are inherently a drain not only on the economy – which is false – but also a drain on their personal living standards. Blaming foreigners for neoliberal austerity.

    If you think this, Rupert Murdoch, the Rothermeres and the minority of the ultra rich that run this country thank you for your service, having turned your anger away from their looting your country, towards any and all migrants simply existing.

20. This conversation is just dumb.

    Everyone is happy to say ‘i don’t like immigration!’ but despite it being **the** hot topic for the last 2 decades none of them have any plan, or most of them a comprehension, of how to handle the trade offs so a solution can actually become viable.

    It’s just surface level emotion for **20 years.**

21. It’s not migration, it’s corporations and capitalism.

    But the wealthy aren’t going to tell you it’s their fault.

22. The smart people are leaving the UK…

    Signed an Fed up Immigrant

23. Deport them all. Make Britain British again. We have nowhere else to go but our little island. If we have to fight I’d have it now and get it over with.

24. Okay, but what do experts who actually know what they’re talking about say?

25. As a middle class person who gets utterly decimated by labour, why do you people shift blame so easily?

26. Has no one noticed this dude literally just posts articles about migrants all day? Weird as fuck

27. There’s been a deliberate race to the bottom for over a decade in the UK.

28. No shit when that’s what the voters here every day all day.

29. The high streets would be even emptier if it weren’t for the vape and barber shops.

    And who’s going to to deliver all that Deliveroo food on 1000w ebikes?

30. I’m sorry it wasn’t immigrants that bankrupt my area, causing tax inflation.

31. It’s refreshing to see the posts condemning billionaires for actively profiting off cheap labour from migration. To me, it’s quite obvious that it’s the reason nothing meaningful is being done. They are addicted to it, and there’s a never-ending supply from plenty poor nations. It’s not the fault of the migrants. It’s the ultra wealthy.

    Unfortunately, it’s never going to get better because every party is bank rolled by the very people who profit off the cheap labour.

32. I think there’s another aspect to this whole thing that doesn’t get talked about enough. Cutting down immigration may improve our economic situation in the long term, but short term we will very much struggle due to our low number of working age people. If the British public wants less immigrants, they’ll have to accept a lower standard of living, for at least a decade or two. And quite frankly, I doubt the public will accept that.

33. No matter what people’s thoughts are on Migration/Immigration are, the fact remains it is a big deal to voters and not addressing it will drive people further right. It can’t just be dismissed as xenophobia or racism anymore.

34. I mean maybe it is, is anyone officially looking into if it driving down living standards? Or are labour voters informed enough to comment…

35. Mass immigration only benifts the wealthy.
    Landlords have an endless stream of renters willing to live in substandard properties.
    Small business owners able to pay min to workers due to excess supply of labour

36. Labour don’t care. They think reform gained votes due to WFA, and have signed a deal with India making UK workers more expensive then bringing someone halfway across the planet to do the job instead.

    It seams to me that they actually hate the UK.

37. No its not billionaires hoarding wealth like the dragon in the hobbit, no sir Mr telegraph! 

38. The reality is under taxation of the wealthy has strangled the various governmental bodies preventing the building of housing, funding the NHS and other essential services. This isn’t a migration problem. It’s a problem with failing to expand public services in line with population growth.

    This is a fixable problem if our politicians weren’t so afraid of upsetting absurdly wealthy people.

39. So you can’t name one thing that is solely English?

40. All those years of tory austerity clearly had nothing to do with it at all! Thanks heavens for the telegraph or we’d be completely blind.

    {It’s sarcasm folks}

41. Government cuts over the last 15 years have driven down living standards, let’s be honest. Doesn’t fit the billionaire agenda though naturally.

42. # Top reasons for not voting Labour among those not intending to

    **Defectors from Labour (since 2024 GE)** | Non-Labour voters (as of Jan 2025)/

    Removed winter fuel allowance: **35%** | 36

    Not reduced cost of living: **33%** | 20

    Not improved public services: **26%** | 18

    Broken too many promises: **25%** | 27

    Not stood up to the rich and powerful: **23%** | 13

    In contrary to what Streeting (and others) have been saying, immigration itself isn’t that high up the list of what Labour’s base actually cares about. They’re haemorrhaging voters because people are realising they stand for nothing, are as cruel as the Tories, and are constantly trying to appeal to people who will never vote for them anyway

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