One thing the mainstream parties and the BNP seem to agree on is that the British public is hostile to immigration. While the latter hopes to use the issue to win support from resentful voters, the mainstream parties walk a line between affirming the economic and cultural contribution made by immigrants and insisting that they will each be tougher than the other parties in restricting their entry. Gordon Brown’s use of the slogan ‘British jobs for British workers’ in 2007 was considered controversial more for its stark form than its content. The result is that the issue is rarely subject to open and rigorous public debate, and when the BNP protests that immigration has been ‘imposed’ on the British people, they seem to have a point. So what is the case for immigration?

Is an essentially liberal political establishment merely pandering to popular prejudice when it talks up strong borders, or do immigration controls serve to refocus resentment away from the political class itself? Is the public as racist as politicians seem to think, or do concerns about the BNP actually reveal contempt for white voters? Some argue that immigrants are needed to do the jobs shiftless British workers can’t or won’t, but isn’t such rhetoric just as divisive as national chauvinism? Are the interests of immigrants and the existing British public necessarily at odds, or might they have common interests? Is it time to drop the PC hand-wringing and have out the debate?