Labour's immigration clampdown is a generational betrayal
The government's anti-migrant lurch will damage the country to please a few pensioners with dog-whistle politics
Labour’s new immigration white paper, unveiled on 12 May, has set hares running.
Keir Starmer’s rhetoric around migration is now unmistakably hardline. Calling the UK’s historic immigration policy a “failed experiment” and warning that we risk becoming “an island of strangers” isn’t just dog-whistle politics, it marks a clear lurch to the right; a deep betrayal of the progressive values many hoped a Labour government would stand for.
Labour MPs are rattled. Core voters are angrier still. But the white paper also exposes a more uncomfortable truth about our politics: we live in a gerontocracy. A system run, unmistakably, by the whims of pensioners, even when those interests clash with the long-term interests of the country.
The policies in this white paper are designed to appeal to older voters: a demographic that tends to be more sceptical of immigration — and increasingly tempted by Reform. Policy has often been decided this way. It often makes political sense: the short-termism baked into our electoral cycles rewards parties that cater to the largest and most reliable voting bloc. These policies have often aligned with the economic interests and cultural concerns of older voters, from suppressing house-building, Brexit, prioritising taxes on earnings over assets, to shaping immigration rhetoric around anxieties about demographic change
Now, Labour is doing the same. In trying to keep these voters onside, it’s playing with fire, especially when it comes to social care, which already hangs by a thread.
A vague, probably futile electoral boost, bought with real damage to some of the most vulnerable people in the country. It won’t win over the right, who will always demand harsher measures, and it alienates the left, who feel abandoned by their party.
Let’s be clear: Britain’s care system relies on migrant workers. Not in the abstract, in reality. Thousands of people from overseas help our elderly wash, eat, stay safe and live with dignity. Nearly half of all new starters in care in 2023 were migrants, and one fifth of the overall workforce is non-British. That’s not because employers are avoiding British workers, it’s because there simply aren’t enough people here willing or able to do these demanding jobs under the current conditions, which are low-pay, long-hours, understaffed and underappreciated.
But Labour’s new plan proposes phasing out overseas recruitment in care entirely. The solution? “Train up British workers”. A noble idea, and one we’ve needed for years. But it’s fantasy to think we can just click our fingers and create 100,000 new carers overnight.
Worse, Labour has shown time and again that it's not ready to confront the vested interests standing in the way. The party is already supposedly watering down its workers' rights bill and bent to pressure from big business. If it won't stand up to vested interests and improve pay and conditions, what hope is there of attracting a homegrown care workforce?
And here’s the kicker: older voters are the ones who’ll be hit hardest. They rely on home visits, hospital discharge support and care homes that are already stretched to the limit. A shrinking workforce means longer waits, rushed appointments, and in some areas, no care at all.
So what’s the trade-off? A vague, probably futile electoral boost, bought with real damage to some of the most vulnerable people in the country. It won’t win over the right, who will always demand harsher measures, and it alienates the left, who feel abandoned by their party.
We’re told this is about balance. But if we’re serious about balancing generational needs, we need to be honest that migration is not a problem to be solved, it’s often the solution staring us in the face.
This isn’t just about numbers. It’s about political priorities. Many of us hoped this Labour government might be brave enough to speak plainly, to tell older voters that immigration isn’t ruining the country, it’s helping to hold it together.
And younger generations know what awaits them in the future. Their own hospital and social care will be deprioritised. They’ll have to give up careers to care for ageing relatives. They’ll watch the chance of inheriting any wealth vanish as homes are sold off to pay for overstretched, overpriced care. Migrants, too, will suffer, caught in an increasingly hostile environment where only those deemed “economically useful” are allowed to stay.
Labour says it wants to build a fairer Britain. If that’s true, it has to stop pretending we can fix social care without migration. That’s not “balance.” It’s denial. ■
About the author: Zoë Grünewald is Westminster Editor at The Lead and a freelance political journalist and broadcaster. She has worked in and around Westminster for five years, starting her career as a parliamentary clerk before throwing away the wig and entering journalism. 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.
This piece is part of The Lead Says, bringing you insightful writing on people, place and policy. Immigration and how it is tackled is a topic we’ve returned to regularly on The Lead, from Zoe outlining how immigration is often seen as the number one topic for voters (when in fact, it isn’t), Nicola Kelly fresh from her time inside the Home Office on Labour’s ‘Go Home Van’ moment earlier this year and migration researcher and campaigner Zoe Gardner on how ‘smashing the gangs’ narrative won’t work. Help support our writing on immigration and more by becoming a subscriber to The Lead.