I never considered it xenophobic. Like half a million people migrated from PL and other new members to UK causing difficulties on labor market at a time polish UE accession. And it was a legitimate issue. It fixed itself after few years as markets equilibrqted and it’s was definetly not issue at the time of Brexit, but these concerns had nothing to do with xenophobia.
was iirc campaigned largely on sending emigrants back to Poland.
The most ridiculous thing about it is that after Brexit UK opened their borders and that pro Brexit crowd got the exactly opposite of what they were promosed
ParadoxSeahorse@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah, studies are mixed, but all interesting. The fact the studies were commissioned at all points to there being some concern, though seemingly somewhat overblown. As you say, the main anxieties were financial.
BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I don’t need scientific research to know, that majority of people aren’t xenophobic, I even talked about immigrants with far right guys from my former World of Tanks Clan once (you probably know the type: Fixation around national symbols everywhere, flag, Coat of arms, military ect.), and even they weren’t particularly against work related immigration. It’s just the difference between “Borders are Open for All” vs “You’re welcome only if you actually work, don’t crime and respect our culture”.
And well balanced immigration policy actually benefits economy - companies that open logistic centers in poland require cheap work force, and with some effort they can recruit in far less developed east. We have lots of ukrainians, bielarusins, turks and vietnameese doing low skilled jobs.