by Tabitha Hergest

Created on: February 11, 2008

There is a mountain of mis-information being peddled by the Government. Ever since New Labour's ascension in '97, it has become a by-word for spin, hypocrisy and, generally, leading the British public a merry dance - playing us all for fools. And it would seem most of the British electorate are fools if we allow this sort of shameless attitude to go unpunished.

Uncontrolled immigration, or selling the country down the river is, we are told, necessary for our survival. It is only the immigrant who is able to do this job or that job sufficiently well to warrant payment. It is only the immigrant who is sufficiently skilled; only the immigrant who has the necessary work ethic. So far, so so-so; but it goes on by instructing its lackeys - in the most notable form of Sainsburys supermarket who, famously, have had close links with New Labour through the person of Lord Sainsbury - to say that they prefer migrant workers because the indigenous Briton is lazy and shiftless.

Back up a minute here: "lazy"? "Shiftless"? You couldn't actually be meaning, could you, that the migrant worker is prepared to ignore the last 250-odd years' worth of labour relations, where the British worker gained fair and just rewards for the work he does, and safeguards against exploitation by the greedy and the unscrupulous. Does the Government, through people like Sainsbury, really want to turn the clock back to the cotton-mills and children up chimneys?

And let us not forget, were a British employer to let slip that he prefers an indigenous worker, for so innocent a reason as, let's say, being able to speak the language properly, there is no end to the number of gliberal idiots who will jump down his throat and call him a racist thug, discriminatory bigot or whatever other juicy phrase they thought up over their cinammon latte at lunch. So why isn't Sainsbury likewise targeted? It's not as if working at Sainsburys falls under the HSMP remit - how many degrees do you need to slice a bit of prosciutto?

Incidentally, if you go shopping in London, the chances are that most of the shops you visit will be staffed by migrants. Not that there's anything wrong in that, essentially, but the way I see it is that I live in the UK as a British citizen. It probably marks me out as an ignoramus that I don't speak very good Gujurati, but I don't see that I should have to, given that my desire to visit Pakistan is on a par with my desire to have my bowels incised with a rusty spoon. Yet without that skill, it is increasingly difficult to make myself understood; if I ask for something, they think I am looking for something completely different but which may happen to have a similarly sounding name: petrol/pet-food etc. If they know what I am talking about at all, that is. I once asked for a bottle of witch-hazel, and the shop-assistant looked at me as if I had six heads.

I don't mind there being foreigners at work in any area, if they are genuinely good at their job. Employers, however, are apt to milk the situation to their own ends. Technically, who can blame them? But when they do this, it is the good old British worker who loses out - and because he has not the means to defend his position, his losses are doubled.

Keep it up, New Labour, you're doing a grand job. Of what is probably unprintable...

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