‘What do they know of England, who only England know?’
Rudyard Kipling made his anguished lament at the insularity of his countrymen in a 19th Century poem, but it is jarringly contemporary. A process that began with Theresa May declaring that ‘a citizen of the world is a citizen of nowhere’ appears to be destined to finish in a nauseating blaze of jingoism and 1940s nostalgia.
In what is fast becoming another banner for year for dispiriting political discourse, the statement that truly depressed me came from Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union. This is a role that is the muggle equivalent of Defence Against the Darks Arts teacher at Hogwarts, where occupants including a narcissist, a sociopath and a werewolf never last longer than a year.
‘Ending free movement from the EU is one of the big wins we’ve secured in our #Brexit deal’, Professor Umbridge Mr Barclay said.
There’s a lot to unpick here. First, please forgive me if I fail to celebrate the triumph in undermining and bring to an end the vital contributions made to our society over the two and a half decades since freedom of movement began.
Much of the discourse around immigration is economic: ‘All those Romanians, coming over here and taking our jobs’… a line of thought often followed by, ‘All those Poles coming over here and sponging off the state’. Which is it? Are they taking your jobs or are they unemployed free-loaders?
Never mind of course that all sensible analysis indicates that the fiscal impact of EU migration to the UK is positive – each contributes £2,300 more to public purse each year than the average adult, according to those damned experts at Oxford Economics.
Whatever economic contribution EU migrants have made has been dwarfed by the cultural and social influence they have had in adding to the vibrancy and diversity of so many parts of the UK, just as so many previous waves of immigrants have. Personal experiences of this are many and varied, but the one that always stays with me is the midwife who delivered Paddy with all the drama and passion that one would expect from a flame-haired daughter of Italy. ‘Such an emotional, beautiful family moment’, she wrote in the notes afterwards.
So, count me mad as hell about a process that has left our friends, neighbours, midwives and surgeons from the EU at best feel unwelcome and worst subject to abuse from the neon Nazis emboldened by the racist turn our national political conversation has taken.
But now note the language used by Mr Barclay in his ‘big win’ tweet. ‘Ending freedom of movement from the EU’. No mention of the fact that we British also lost our right to freedom of movement. Once Britain leaves the EU, we will collectively lose the right to live, love, work, study and retire in 27 nations. And that’s a moment of profound sadness.
Moving to Madrid and working for a Spanish/German/French company has probably been the most enriching experience of my life, certainly my professional life. The floor I work on is a noisy, engaging and cosmopolitan cocktail of nationalities. We have Irish, English, Hungarian, Romanian, German, French, Italian, Finnish, Dutch, Americans, Turkish, a load of Spaniards of course and some who are so international they’re not sure anymore. I’ve learned something from each of them. And our different perspectives, outlooks, cultures and experiences make us stronger, better able to serve a company that does business in just about every country in the world.
And that’s just in the office. Living in Madrid has exposed us to a new culture, a new language (that I am learning embarrassingly slowly) and new people – Madrileños and many others.
And I am not naïve. I know that this emerging multi-culturalism is not to the taste of all, and is regarded in some quarters in the UK and oppressive, threatening and a watering-down of our national culture. And I know that in some quarters this marks me out as a member of ‘liberal, metropolitan elite’. And perhaps I am, but I won’t be lectured on that by multi-millionaire Old Etonian Conservative MPs or Daily Mail columnists.
And so I make no apology. First, six years ago, I would have said that our national characteristics were openness, tolerance and pragmatism. It is that which is being destroyed, by a profound untruth at the heart of our national conversation that says that all that ails us is the fault of someone else: the EU, immigrants, anyone else.
And rather than limiting opportunities by restricting freedom of movement, we should be looking to expand those opportunities as broadly as possible.