Farewell Europe -- UK PM Theresa May rides anti-migrant Brexit wave ........

Prime ministers world over have to play the populist card as a survival necessity and Britain’s prime minister, barely 100 days old in her new job, is no exception. Theresa May  has been double quick to recognise the importance of  that necessity. She abandoned her pro–Europe belief at the first opportunity – never mind  her vote to remain in  Europe in the June referendum which the former prime minister David Cameron gambled on and lost, opening the  Downing Street window for her. 

With a little help from fellow Tory hopefuls  like  Michael Gove and Boris Johnson squabbling for the top job, May saw her opportunity and grabbed the prize. Thus began the prime ministerial era of  Theresa May  in her new avatar as anti-Europe head of  Brexiters. No looking back to any earlier belief or vote.

Losing no time she declared the very first day that “Brexit means Brexit”  and she is sticking to it. Asked umpteen times what Brexit meant, she has so far fobbed off all questioners by saying that she is not going to give a “running commentary” on the negotiations which she proposes to enter into with the European Union. In other words: watch the show as she  unfolds it.

However, she  has signalled two broad and definitive roads which her government intends to travel on the home front. One is a more interventionist policy to make businesses fall in line on fair wages for workers  and  tax avoidance and big bonus culture of  corporates. A tall order, perhaps, but a populist necessary promise. The second road is much more clearly marked with barriers against new immigrants. Even the more recent  immigrants, like nearly two million Eastern European  migrants who arrived over the last six years,  have become pawns on the new chess board. Their fate depends on the reciprocal treatment of Britons working in the European Union. No one-way guarantee  for anybody.  Nor any one-way first gesture. Perhaps that is the meaning of ‘hard’ Brexit, so far as the European migrants are concerned. For the non-Europeans from Asia, Africa or elsewhere the doors have been long slammed shut, only the rarest of the rare asylum seekers or refugees to be allowed in . 

The new government is determined to keep the tightest closed door policy on immigration, as indeed it was the central issue in the referendum that had divided the nation, even families across the land. Amber Rudd, new Home Secretary (Home Minister in Indian parlance), has hinted that employers could be asked to reveal how many foreign workers they employed. The measure is aimed at ensuring that foreign workers should not be able to take jobs that British workers can do.

The proposal  has been widely attacked by employers’ organisations as well as some influential Tory leaders, besides the opposition Labour  party. Rudd, however, is not backing away from the plan and putting it up for review  and “consultation”  within the government. “The object, it seems , is to name and shame those employers with a proportion of non-UK workers above some arbitrary level,” said a leading employers’ representative.

Students are the next target of Rudd as she  announced  that Home Office under her would launch “consultation” on student migration intake. She raised the prospect of a multi-tiered visa system tied to English language test and the nature  of  subject  and  the college or institution offering the course. She said that the current system offered all sorts of students, irrespective of their ability and the college or university’s quality, favourable  employment  prospects after finishing their studies.

Her plans have been condemned by academics as well as by the parliamentary group on international students. The group’s  co-chair, Labour MP Paul Blomfield, called the idea ‘madness” and pointed out that : “ International students bring  eight  billion pounds  a year to the UK economy, creating tens of thousands of jobs. Education is one of our most successful  export industries. The only people cheering today’s announcement  will  be our competitors.”

Doctors and medical personnel, the backbone of Britain’s National Health Service , are also  on the government’s immigration target lists. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt joined the chorus by announcing that the government would expand  medical education by training 1,500 more doctors and other staff every year to make health service self-sufficient by 2025. However he didn’t say how he would stop British doctors’ annual exodus for greener pastures in the USA,  Australia and elsewhere.

What is striking in this new anti-migrant wave since about the year 2, 000 is the phenomenon  of  what might be called xenophobia against white Europeans, something which was earlier aimed at only coloured migrants from Asia, Africa, Caribbean islands and elsewhere. For a long time it appeared that anti-migrant feeling was aimed at keeping “Fort Europe”  white and Christian. Now, of course,  it has come to be seen as more inclusive – keeping even white migrants out of national borders.  Germany, on the other hand, has admitted more than a million  non-Christian refugees from Syria, Iraq and other countries in sharp contrast to countries like Hungary and the Czech republic who have shut their doors to Muslim migrants on cultural grounds. An uneven and uneasy Europe, which still remains a magnet  for millions from outside.

The only section of  immigrants whose entry Britain and even other countries  don’t  want to block are the bankers and the rich investors. Addressing Wall Street banking representatives in New York, the Brititish Chancellor, Philip Hammond, categorically said that Theresa May’s government was not adopting any anti-business stance. He told a  TV channel: “ The problem is not highly skilled and highly paid bankers, brain surgeons, software engineers.” People (in Britain) recognise  that the  high earners from abroad “are a positive contribution to the UK economy.”

So, it is highly unlikely that Britain would do anything that could harm the City of  London, the heart of  UK’s financial services industry, even though it employs nearly 20 per cent workers from outside the UK. Industry groups are already talking about special visas for wealth creators from outside.  After all which banker doesn’t know that Liza Minnelli song that said something like “Life is a cabaret, my chum" and  money  makes the world go round !