calisation that mimics and legitimises it. There are no doubt genuine policy challenges to integrat­ing immigrants. Provision must above all be made for the infrastructure needs that arise from population growth. However, the rhetoric and public communications em­braced by the government are making the lives of not only migrants, but non-white British people too, much harder. The level of racist activity on our streets is leading to a feeling of oppression, fear and exclusion among our com­munities, the government’s job is to represent all of us, and to actively work to make clear that all residents count equally. They are failing utterly in this task. It is obvious to all observers that the perceived need to re­spond to and represent growing anti-migrant sentiment and head off the gains of the Reform Party are what is mo­tivating Labour’s hardline approach. This is morally abhor­rent to many of the party’s traditional base of voters, let alone the party membership. However, it is also unlikely to have any positive impact in electoral terms either, as we saw when the exact same approach was attempted by the last Conservative government, who pursued anti-migrant rhetoric and policy almost as if it were a religion, and suf­fered the electoral consequences in July 2024. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that attempts by centrist par­ties to echo the language and policies of the anti-migrant far right does nothing to win back their supporters, and in fact drives them further away. 73 One recent study found that directly after being shown a video put out by the La­bour government showing the deportation of immigrants, respondents were more likely to say they would vote for Ni­gel Farage than before they were shown it. 74 By reinforcing the negative messages about immigrants, Labour raises the salience of the issue, reinforcing the idea that these are the types of questions we should be asking about Britain’s problems and implicitly pushing voters in the direction of far right parties that prioritise these issues. Conclusion The seriousness of this political moment cannot be over­stated. The UK’s approach to immigration, humanitarian law, and the wellbeing of our diverse populations is up for debate like never before. The country is crying out for lead­ership that can take the heat out of the migration issue and take steps to manage immigration humanely and re­sponsibly. The current government has so far been a crush­ing disappointment to its own core voters, and has compre­hensively failed to win the trust of the voters of parties to its right either. But Labour still ultimately controls the le­vers of power, and can use them to rebuild confidence in our democratic institutions and address the many social in­justices and challenges that the country faces. To do this, getting a handle on the question of immigration and prior­itising the development of a functional and humane sys­tem is vital. There is still time before the next election, and it remains perfectly possible to turn the moment and the messaging around, to give hope to the large democratic majority that reject the politics of Farage and‘Tommy Rob­inson’. The stakes could not be higher. If Labour does not learn to tell a different story about immigration, they will gift the country to the hands of the far right, with disastrous conse­quences for all. It is time for change. 73  https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2022/apr/13/copying-far-right-doesnt-help-mainstream-parties 74  https://strongmessagehere.substack.com/p/what-messages-might-reform-be-vulnerable 16 Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.