'Suella Braverman is tough': What a focus group of migrants actually thinks of the UK

Original source (on modern site) | Article images: [1]

"It has to be Suella Braverman," Lance says, when asked which politician has stood out since they have arrived in Britain.

The Nigerian, who works as a recovery worker, while also studying in Brighton, is in no doubt which politician looms largest for him currently.

"She has a very tough demeanour, to be candid. She comes out with all these tough ideas and, and she gets bashed in the face so many times over. I'm not going to call it anything other than being tough - I would really call it crazy, but I think let's just call it tough."

Kevin, also from Nigeria and studying while living in Romford, agrees. "She's making immigration policies and stuff and most of the time when you ask her what is the reason for this policy that you're about to enact? She's got no answers whatsoever."

Lance and Kevin are two of around 20 migrants who took part in two separate focus groups organised by the political strategy firm Public First, which i was exclusively allowed to observe. The two sessions gave a rare insight into the lives and feelings of people from overseas who have chosen to make the UK their home.

The timing could not have been more apt. In the morning of the two sessions, the latest net migration figures were published, showing record numbers have moved to the UK from across the globe.

News that 600,000 people have entered the country in the last year from overseas has sparked a fresh civil war within the Conservatives, with many on the right of the party demanding the Government do more to cut the numbers.

The stance from Tory politicians left the focus groups largely bemused, and despite the ramped-up rhetoric few, if any, felt threatened by the language being deployed by the Home Secretary and other ministers.

Above all, there was confusion as to why the UK was taking such an approach to try to limit numbers.

Daniel from Argentina, who lives in Belfast and works as a customer adviser at a contact centre, said that since Brexit there are "a lot of job opportunities that people from the UK don't want to do, particularly in hospitality and people can't get the staff".

The overarching question among some in the groups was: if British people don't want to fill the jobs, where else will the workers come from, if not from overseas?

The offer of work and the chance to make a headstart in life was an overriding factor for each of those who had travelled from as far afield as South Africa, the US, Uruguay and places closer to home, such as the Netherlands, Spain and Italy.

One word above all was mentioned when asked why they had chosen the UK to move to - "opportunity".

Miriam, a student from Spain living in Liverpool, said the chances of employment and the pay were the main reasons for people opting for the UK.

"The salaries here are much higher than, for example, in Spain," she said. "So now with Brexit, there's a lot of vacancies because a lot of people had to leave the UK, so you literally can find a job in anything you want. It's absolutely crazy. Like, I'm a student and I'm not qualified in anything now and I still have offers for jobs all the time."

Svetja, from the Netherlands, a barista currently on maternity leave living in West Sussex, felt the same, despite coming from a country broadly seen as just as prosperous as the UK.

"I think that in this country there's a lot of opportunity," she says. "In Holland, they're really focused on degrees. So you need to have a degree to get a job in a certain field. Whereas in England I feel like you can start at the bottom, and it is really a country where if you want to and you put the effort in, you can work your way up, and you don't necessarily need to have a degree."

When asked to give three words to describe the UK, "prospects", "open-mindedness" and "multicultural" came up regularly. The UK now occupies the same place that was once dominated by the US as a land of opportunity and acceptance.

"It's amazing the kind of thing that you can just do here and it's not a problem," Miriam, an Italian translator living in Brighton enthuses. "You have options, you don't have to fight to have the option in the first place."

She added that while Brexit could have made some less "trusting of foreigners", she was adamant that the UK "still remains a very open-minded country".

"As teenagers we were sold the dream of the UK in the same way that when you speak to some British people they talk about the US," Miriam says. "People often think: The UK? A dream, really? But to us, we'd hear about friends or family members older than us who moved to the UK and made it and came back to Italy. It made such a difference for them."

Ed Shackle, a consultant with Public First, says that the research exploded the idea that Britain post-Brexit is "no longer the attractive place it once was".

He added: "Our findings suggest that this country is still perceived globally as a hotbed of opportunity. There was a genuine belief among the recent migrants we spoke to that Britain was a fantastic place to work and study and if they worked hard here they would be rewarded."

But there was one British custom that none of the migrants were willing to adopt - the UK's drinking culture. "The amount of alcohol that is consumed in this country is alarming," Lance says.

Svetja agrees: "At the Christmas party everyone will just get absolutely smashed and embarrass themselves. But you have to show your face again in the office on Monday? Why would you do that?"