Anti-migrant politics is becoming a perpetual feature of public life in a divided kingdom based on gender, class, sexuality, race, region, religion, and ethnicity. All mainstream political forces in the country participate in different forms and levels of migrant-bashing, as if migrants have created all the challenges confronting society, the economy, and culture in the United Kingdom. Classism and racism are the twin pillars of migration policy. This is the ideological foundation of most mainstream political formations. There is no fundamental difference between the Labour Party and the Tories when it comes to their position on migrants and migration. Both are competing with each other over who can inflict more harm on migrants in this country. The competitive anti-migrant politics and policies produce vile forms of open racism and violent xenophobia in the streets and racial discrimination in workplaces without any form of protection.
Even political leaders from racially minority backgrounds, like Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch, Zia Yusuf, and current Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, are in the same boat, irrespective of their invisible political and ideological differences. These leaders compete with each other to prove their loyalty to the white colonial establishment, where merit is a myth but a white nepotistic network defines the operational values of political leadership in Westminster and managerialism in workplaces in this country; these politicians shape the debate on migration, deepen anti-migrant policies, and expand racist politics while upholding the values and interests of racialised colonial capitalism, where irrational arguments on migrants have become the working principles of governance in the United Kingdom. These anti-migrant policies, racism in the streets, and racial discrimination are foundational to the white racist establishment, which is shaped by racialised colonial capitalism and reproduces itself in different forms of ‘othering’ and ‘marginalisation’ while seeking rent from migrant bodies and bank accounts. Othering is the other name of colonial Britain that defines contemporary British society.
What would happen to the UK without migrants?
In 2026, 18% fewer work visas were granted than in 2025, and 62% fewer than in 2023. Skilled Worker visas issued were down 90% and 48% over this period between 2023 and 2026. Who are these workers?
Migrants make up 38% of hospital and community health doctors and around 30% of nurses in the NHS. The health services will collapse without these doctors and nurses.
The UK does not produce enough doctors and nurses but drains medical resources from Asia and Africa, where there is a deficit of doctors and nurses. Migrants make up 33% of the adult social care workforce in England during 2025/26. More than 42% of care workers, 47% of registered nurses, and 9% of managers in care work are non-British and foreign nationals. These workers are a lifeline for nearly the entire elderly population in Britain.
There were also 11% fewer student visas granted in 2026 compared with 2023. There was also a 41% reduction in student visas compared with those issued in 2023. The majority of students who come to study in the UK are from India and China, which together constitute 46% of sponsored study visas. A Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) report published on 9 July 2026 reveals that each international student makes an approximately £100,000 net contribution to the economy and that “every 10 international students creates around £1 million in net economic impact for the UK economy”. The report finds that international students “generate total economic benefits of £45.1 billion over the course of their studies, while costing the public purse an estimated £4.7 billion, resulting in a benefit-to-cost ratio of 9.7 to 1”.
The HEPI report further breaks down the contribution of international students and finds that “on average, international students make a £62m net contribution to the UK economy per parliamentary constituency”. International students and their purely economic contributions create 287,300 full-time equivalents in the country. International students contribute around £580 per resident. The white racists need to think before spreading their racist poison while surviving on international students’ contributions. The UK has become a certificate-selling shop without providing quality education while treating international students merely as cash cows. The rent-seeking, pay-as-you-go culture is destroying higher education in the country, and the UK looks less attractive to international students due to growing racism. Without international students, the majority of UK universities would shut down.
Overseas-qualified teachers make up 27% of teachers working in UK schools, whereas nearly 57% of school teachers and leaders in London are foreign nationals, and 42% of migrant teachers work in schools in South East England. The national capital, London, would be half illiterate without these teachers, who are foreign nationals. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Staff Statistics reveal that foreign nationals constitute 34% of academic staff at UK universities during 2024/25. Without these migrant staff members, nearly 50% of universities and higher education institutions would shut down.
Bus, train, and taxi drivers, London Underground workers, and telephone and mobile network workers and engineers constitute 14.4% of the workforce; without them, the transport and communication sector in the UK would collapse. Migrants constitute 20% of the UK house-building workforce and nearly 50% of construction workers in London. Nearly 11.6% of the migrant workforce of foreign origin constructs roads in the UK. Without these foreign workers, UK roads would be miserable. The hotel industry in the UK works because 34% of its workers are migrants. Foreign nationals make up 37.1% of housekeeping staff, 75.3% of waiters and waitresses, and 24.6% of chefs. Migrants clean, cook, and run the hotels in the UK. Without these workers, the UK hotel industry would suffer on a massive scale. More than 13.5% of migrant workers work in wholesale and retail trade and restaurants.
There were 2.2 million visitor visas issued, and 23.2 million short-period visits to the UK were made on visas in 2026 for tourism. Tourism as a sector contributes £147 billion annually to the British economy and constitutes around 5% of national GDP while supporting 2.4 million jobs in the UK—nearly one in every 15 jobs across the country. Tourism also generated £52 billion in tax revenues in the UK. These tourists often confront racism in the streets and hotels of Britain without any form of legal recourse.
The United Kingdom and its economic survival depend on migrants, but due to structural and racist discrimination, the unemployment rate among migrant workers has been growing faster than among UK-born white citizens over the last two decades. Without migrants, the UK’s education, health, transport and communication, social care, and tourism sectors would collapse. The UK lacks the skills that migrants bring to the country, yet migrants suffer under a racist system. Structural racism is the lifeblood of racism in the streets of the UK. The racist and toxic environment is not conducive to non-white migrant workers in contemporary UK. It is imperative to fight back against racist discrimination and to boycott the UK to ensure that the UK government creates a conducive environment for migrant workers to live and work in the UK.
