From Afghanistan to Kent – why Britain desperately needs an immigration reality-check

Plus: The latest from the North of England, more hot air in this week's Reform Watch, and everything from hurling, to AI and The Beatles in The Lead Digest.

When ideology suddenly meets reality, the right's desperately-peddled anti-immigration rhetoric begins to crumble. Pic: UKParliament/Flickr

Two very different immigration stories have dominated the headlines this week. The first exposed the accidental leak in 2022 of personal details belonging to thousands of Afghan nationals who had applied for asylum in the UK. The second saw the Reform UK leader of Kent County Council raise “grave concern” about tightened visa rules threatening the already fragile health and care sectors.

On the surface, these stories reveal the contradictions and failings of our immigration system. But together, they should compel us to rethink the national conversation entirely. They highlight Britain’s urgent need for two things, the same two things that politicians are increasingly afraid to make the case for: safe, legal routes for those fleeing persecution, and a steady, sensible flow of skilled workers essential to keeping vital services running.

First, the explosive revelation that the personal details of nearly 19,000 Afghan nationals who worked alongside British forces were leaked from UK Special Forces headquarters in 2022. Many of these individuals had risked their lives serving our interests during the conflict with the Taliban, and the mishandling of this sensitive information placed them in immediate danger. The breach was so serious that the previous government quietly established an £850 million emergency resettlement scheme, known as the Afghanistan Response Route, which has already brought around 4,500 Afghans to the UK.

For two years, none of us were allowed to know this. The scheme was kept under wraps by a super‑injunction, a unprecedented legal order rarely seen in matters of state. But this week’s disclosures do more than expose official incompetence, they remind us of Britain’s moral duty to those we have put in harm’s way, and of the need for safe, legal avenues to sanctuary.

Then, during the very same week, we saw a different kind of immigration row unfold. In Kent, the leader of a county council controlled by Reform UK – a party that has built its brand on slashing net migration and ramping up the hostile environment – wrote to the government to express “grave concern” about plans to tighten visas for health and care workers.

Linden Kemkaran’s letter was striking: not only did it clash with her party’s anti‑immigration rhetoric, it laid bare the reality facing local authorities up and down the country: Without the same foreign‑born carers her party are loathe to support, the social care system would simply collapse.

This is not a hypothetical. Across the UK, councils are already struggling to recruit enough care workers. As we at The Lead have highlighted multiple times, the sector is creaking under the weight of an ageing population, chronic underfunding and high turnover. For many, international recruitment is the only thing keeping the lights on.

Undoubtedly, the system needs better regulation and a long-term workforce plan. But when ideology suddenly meets reality, the right's desperately-peddled anti-immigration rhetoric begins to crumble.

Put these stories side by side, and a pattern emerges. They explode the myth, still espoused by the papers, the right, and sometimes, our own government, that immigration is a dirty word, and stopping it is a moral imperative. In truth, it is complex, necessary and, when done responsibly, profoundly moral.

For progressives: there are lessons here. The Afghan scandal shows that Britain can act relatively quickly and generously, even if in secret. It also shows that safe and legal routes are not a soft option, but a lifeline for those we owe a debt of national gratitude.

For those who think our borders should be entirely closed off it is worth asking: if not them, then who? If we cannot find compassion for people who risked their lives alongside our own troops, what does that say about us?

Meanwhile, the Kent letter proves what many have long argued: migration is not merely a numbers game but a matter of national and local interest.

This week has been a bad one for the angry anti‑immigration right, because reality has bypassed slogans. But it is also a moment of clarity for those of us who believe in a fair, compassionate system to press the case with confidence, and hopefully a learning curve for this Labour government. We need to move beyond knee‑jerk crackdowns and towards an immigration policy rooted in honesty: our economy requires skilled workers, and our principles demand sanctuary for the vulnerable.■

About the author: Zoë Grünewald is Westminster Editor at The Lead and a freelance political journalist and broadcaster. Zoë then worked as a policy and politics reporter at the New Statesman, before joining the Independent as a political correspondent. When not writing about politics and policy, she is a regular commentator on TV and radio and a panellist on the Oh God What Now podcast.

The Lead is keeping an eye on Reform UK and their fellow travellers. Get in touch on X, Bluesky and Instagram or email ella@thelead.uk with tips and stories. We especially want to hear from readers whose local council is now run by Farage’s followers.

• In Lancashire, the Reform-led council has proposed cuts to early years education which could cause job losses, nursery closures and fewer funded spaces for children in deprived areas. Speaking to The Lancashire Lead, the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) estimated that this will save Lancashire County Council around £3m but cost the average nursery around £5,000. 

• Also in Lancashire, Joe Custodio, a Reform candidate who came within 100 votes of being elected to Lancashire County Council in the May by-elections, recently attended a far-right event organised by Patriotic Alternative. Patriotic Alternative have been known to support deportation of people of ‘migrant descent’, advocated for political violence, and supported white genocide conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial, according to Hope Not Hate. Reform UK said he’s not a member of the party – and the local branch said he never had been – but this is not a requirement to stand for the party in an election. (Reminder: We’ll be closely following the new Reform administration in Lancashire with our dedicated title The Lancashire Lead. Make sure you subscribe to stay in the loop.)

• Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy chair and the MP for Boston and Skegness, promised that his Lincolnshire colleagues would oppose solar farms “every step of the way”. But two of Reform’s councillors missed the council meeting on 14 July  covering a new solar panel project. Money where their mouth is? Or just hot air?

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The Lead Digest

Ella enjoyed this BBC feature on the country's reaction to the loss of the Sycamore Gap tree, and what it exposes about values (and our hypocrisy) towards nature. She has also finally started The Beatles: Get Back, the Beatles documentary consisting of more than 9-hours of archival footage, and is hooked. Great for escapism, inspiration, and an auditory trip back home to Merseyside. 

Padraig recommends watching the All-Ireland Hurling final this Sunday. One of global sport's greatest spectacles, watched by 82,000 people in Dublin's Croke Park and millions more around the world, will see two giants of the game, Cork and Tipperary, face off in the final for the first time. Guaranteed to be fast and furious. See it live on BBC 2 and iPlayer at home, or even better, head to your local Irish pub. Oh and to whet your appetite, the documentary series The Game - the story of hurling is available on iPlayer.

Natalie was gripped and concerned in equal measure by Amelia Tait’s article in the Observer magazine about the ways more of us are using AI – everything from getting a substitute apology, to deciding if you should break up with your boyfriend. Things we would normally rely on our friends to advise us on are increasingly being outsourced to ChatGPT.

Luke enjoyed this article by Matt Hennessey, which was written before Preston North End's fixture with Liverpool, but is evergreen in how it will resonate for fans of any football club that exists with only the faintest glimmer of hope of any type of success.

Ed recommends this article about Labour's abilitiy to deliver real change on the poverty crisis, which was sent over by Stewart Lansley, a visiting fellow at the School of Policy Studies University of Bristol and author of a number of books on poverty and inequality, in response to Zoe's article on the growing disease of child poverty in the UK.

We also recommend this lovely read from The Lead contributor Hannah Fearn about the Banbury pub created specifically for people living with disabilities – complete with karaoke and cheap drinks – to help tackle the loneliness crisis.

At The Lead we’re dedicated to telling stories beyond the bright lights of London and Manchester (although sometimes we still will). We have dedicated journalists and titles in Blackpool, Lancashire, Calderdale, Teesside and Southport bringing in-depth news and features twice-a-week to those communities…

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Plans that could see Reform UK cut funding to nurseries in Lancashire will see job losses, closures and fewer funded spaces for children in deprived areas. This has since been raised in parliament as a result of reporting by The Lancashire Lead.

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Thanks for reading our Thursday newsletter, it’s great to have you with us. Tomorrow keep an eye on your inbox for more on the crisis in the UK care sector. Our reporter Ella Glover will be untangling years of issues in adult social care, and how removing the Health and Care Worker Visa could exacerbate the sector’s ongoing troubles. If you’re reading this and you’re not signed up, consider subscribing to The Lead below so you don’t miss tomorrow’s edition.