Why has ‘trust’ became such a dominant issue in British politics in the early 21st century? Is it the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Or the arrogant ineptitude that led to the financial crisis and the bank bailouts? Or the parliamentary expenses scandal?
Or is it, more than the above, the failure of successive governments to meet their immigration targets? Trust in politics will fall to dangerously low levels if-immigration continues as is following this year’s referendum. This is why the government has acknowledged that some control over EU immigration must be part of the Brexit deal. The extent of these restrictions will be key to our agreement with the rest of the EU.
The relationship between the Brexit vote and immigration is complex. Polls suggest that sovereignty, not immigration, was the biggest motivation behind the Leave vote. But Britain’s inability to determine its own immigration policy became emblematic of our loss of sovereignty. Leave didn’t win solely on account of immigration, but it is hard to see how it could have won without the issue. David Cameron certainly blames his defeat on it, telling EU leaders at his last summit that if they had given him an emergency brake on free movement, Britain would have voted to stay.
Free movement demonstrates the evolution of the EU. Initially, it involved the workers of six western European countries with similar standards of living. But the combination of EU citizenship, introduced in the Maastricht Treaty, and EU enlargement changed all that. People are now moving to countries with a far higher standard of living in search of work. Compounding the effect, Britain implemented the rules less strictly than several other members and chose not to impose transitional controls when eight eastern European countries joined in 2004.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in