Politicians are trying to turn us against key NHS and care workers – and we might just fall for it.

Access to Justice Project Lead Isata Kanneh says the language used when discussing immigration will sway perceptions of key workers.

When Suella Braverman resigned a month ago, people asked what sort of Home Secretary James Cleverly was going to be. He voted in favour of repealing the Human Rights Act but was not an outspoken champion of the Rwanda Plan. Would his appointment, some wondered, signal a change of UK Government direction on immigration?

In his first month, despite stating that Rwanda is not the “be all and end all”, the Home Secretary has done all he can to keep the plan alive, at least in the minds of the public. Last week, he signed a new treaty with Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, which will potentially see UK judges working with Rwandan judiciary in a joint tribunal. This is despite a desperate shortage of judges in the UK, including within the Immigration Tribunal.

The Five Point Plan is an attack on legal migration

But it was on 4^th December, while unveiling his Five Point Plan on immigration, that the Minister revealed a new front. He not only launched an attack on legal migration, but he peppered his speech with language that cast suspicion on people using legitimate migration routes. He particularly targeted key workers in the NHS and care services, portraying them as criminals based purely on their countries of origin.

None of the rules announced last week were actually new. The statement was a repackaging of already-planned changes, some of which, including increases in salary thresholds, are supported by the opposition. Putting them together in this way signaled that legal migration is being targeted by the UK government, despite an acknowledgement from the Home Secretary that it has reduced within the past year. But the announcement was about more than numbers: it appeared crafted to turn the public and the political climate against people migrating to the UK via legitimate routes.

Insidious language affects the way we view key workers

What was really striking about the Home Secretary’s announcement was the language that he used. Describing legal visa routes, through which migrants are actively encouraged by universities, employers, hospitals, care homes, and the Welsh Government to apply for positions in the UK, Cleverly used the language of criminality. He spoke of “stopping abuse” of the Overseas Care Worker Visa, while presenting no evidence of any abuse whatsoever.

The people who staff care homes and who provide care to our elders and disabled people in their own homes, were described by the Home Secretary as having somehow used these essential jobs to “jump the queue”. He did not mention that such workers literally put their lives on the line for us during the COVID-19 pandemic with dramatic consequences: twice as many residential and domiciliary care workers died during the pandemic than did health workers. Hours for care work are long, conditions are often poor, and rates of pay are low.

In one revealing slip, the Home Secretary even referred to the families of care workers as “defendants” instead of “dependents”. Only 25% of care worker visa dependents, Cleverly stated, are in work, misleadingly implying that the remainder are therefore “drawing on public services, rather than helping to grow the economy”. He conveniently forgot to clarify – despite a question from Chris Stephens MP – that a significant proportion of visa dependents will be children and are therefore unable to go out and earn their own living. Visa dependents are also subject to a no recourse to public funds restriction, meaning that any financial support they require will be coming from the working visa holder, and not from the public purse.

Historically, we turn on migrants and people of colour in times of economic crisis

The changes are economically disastrous as divisive. Evidence from the Welsh Government to the Migration Advisory Committee earlier this year set out the urgent need in Wales for nursery assistants and childminders, staff in the tourism and hospitality sectors, healthcare professionals, and pharmacy technicians. Wales has an aging population and more deaths than births. It would be foolish for us to support restrictions on migration routes that are essential for Wales to maintain an adequately-sized and skilled workforce.

Yet, historically we, as a public, turn on migrants and people of colour in times of economic crisis. Immigration is commonly used as a political tool in general elections and people born outside of the UK are convenient scapegoats to distract from the failings of economic policies. As we head into a general election year, it seems that this time around targeting irregular migrants, asylum seekers, and people in unskilled jobs is not enough for politicians.

Graduate students, skilled workers, NHS and care staff have become the new targets.

These are the very people our economy and our health and care systems rely on. They are the people we stood on our doorsteps three years ago to clap. As the rhetoric whirls around us, will we remember how thankful we were, or will we fall for the politics of division and turn on the people who pulled us through?