Anti-migrant politics has become a permanent feature of public life in a divided United Kingdom—divided by gender, class, sexuality, race, region, religion and ethnicity. All mainstream political forces participate in migrant-bashing in different forms and at different levels, as if migrants had created every challenge facing society, the economy and culture. Classism and racism are the twin pillars of migration policy, and this is the ideological foundation of most mainstream political formations.
There is no fundamental difference between Labour and the Tories on migrants and migration. Both compete over who can inflict more harm on migrants. This competitive anti-migrant politics produces vile forms of open racism and violent xenophobia on the streets, and racial discrimination in workplaces without protection.
Even political leaders from racially minority backgrounds—Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch, Zia Yusuf and Shabana Mahmood—are in the same boat, whatever their invisible political and ideological differences. These leaders compete to prove their loyalty to the white colonial establishment, where merit is a myth and a white nepotistic network defines the operational values of political leadership in Westminster and managerialism in workplaces. They shape the debate on migration, deepen anti-migrant policies and expand racist politics while upholding the values and interests of racialised colonial capitalism, in which irrational arguments about migrants have become working principles of governance. Anti-migrant policies, street racism and racial discrimination are foundational to the white racist establishment, which is shaped by racialised colonial capitalism and reproduces itself through different forms of “othering” and “marginalisation” while seeking rent from migrant bodies and bank accounts. Othering is colonial Britain’s other name, and it defines contemporary British society.
So what would happen to the UK without migrants?
Between 2023 and 2026, Skilled Worker visas issued fell sharply—by 90% in one measure and 48% in another. Who are these workers? Migrants make up 38% of hospital and community health doctors and around 30% of nurses in the NHS. The health service would collapse without these doctors and nurses. In June 2025, after British/UK staff, the largest national groups in the NHS included Indian, Nigerian, Filipino, Irish, Polish, Ghanaian, Pakistani, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Zimbabwean, Spanish, Egyptian, Nepalese and Sri Lankan workers.
The UK does not train enough doctors and nurses, so it drains medical talent from Asia and Africa, where deficits are already severe. Migrants make up 33% of the adult social care workforce in England in 2025/26. More than 42% of care workers, 47% of registered nurses and 9% of managers in care work are non-British and foreign nationals. These workers are a lifeline for nearly the entire elderly population in Britain.
Student visas were down 11% in 2026 compared with 2023; another measure shows a 41% reduction over the same period. Most students who come to study in the UK are from India and China, which together account for 46% of sponsored study visas. A Higher Education Policy Institute report published on 9 July 2026 reveals that each international student makes an approximately £100,000 net contribution to the economy, and that “every 10 international students creates around £1 million in net economic impact for the UK economy.” The report finds that international students “generate total economic benefits of £45.1 billion over the course of their studies, while costing the public purse an estimated £4.7 billion, resulting in a benefit-to-cost ratio of 9.7 to 1.”
The HEPI report further breaks down the contribution of international students: “on average, international students make a £62m net contribution to the UK economy per parliamentary constituency.” International students and their purely economic contributions create 287,300 full-time equivalents in the country. They contribute around £580 per resident. Those who peddle racist poison should remember that they are surviving on international students’ contributions. The UK has become a certificate-selling shop without providing quality education while treating international students merely as cash cows. The rent-seeking, pay-as-you-go culture is destroying higher education, and the UK looks less attractive to international students because of growing racism. Without international students, the majority of UK universities would shut down.
Overseas-qualified teachers make up 27% of teachers working in UK schools, while nearly 57% of school teachers and leaders in London are foreign nationals, and 42% of migrant teachers work in schools in South East England. London would be half illiterate without these teachers. Higher Education Statistics Agency staff statistics reveal that foreign nationals constitute 34% of academic staff at UK universities in 2024/25. Without these migrant staff members, nearly 50% of universities and higher education institutions would shut down.
Migrant workers in buses, trains, taxis, the London Underground and telecommunications make up 14.4% of the workforce in those sectors; without them, the transport and communication sector would collapse. Migrants constitute 20% of the UK house-building workforce and nearly 50% of construction workers in London. Nearly 11.6% of the migrant workforce of foreign origin builds UK roads. Without these foreign workers, UK roads would be miserable. The hotel industry works because 34% of its workers are migrants. Foreign nationals make up 37.1% of housekeeping staff, 75.3% of waiters and waitresses and 24.6% of chefs. Migrants clean, cook and run hotels in the UK. Without them, the hotel industry would suffer on a massive scale. More than 13.5% of migrant workers work in wholesale and retail trade and restaurants.
There were 2.2 million visitor visas issued and 23.2 million short-period visits to the UK on visas in 2026 for tourism. Tourism contributes £147 billion annually to the British economy and around 5% of national GDP, supporting 2.4 million jobs—nearly one in every 15 jobs across the country—and generating £52 billion in tax revenues. Yet tourists often confront racism in the streets and hotels of Britain without any form of legal recourse.
The UK and its economic survival depend on migrants. But because of structural and racist discrimination, unemployment among migrant workers has grown faster than among UK-born white citizens over the last two decades. Without migrants, the UK’s education, health, transport and communication, social care and tourism sectors would collapse. The UK lacks the skills that migrants bring, yet migrants suffer under a racist system. Structural racism is the lifeblood of racism on the streets. The racist and toxic environment is not conducive to non-white migrant workers in contemporary Britain. It is imperative to fight back against racist discrimination and to campaign for a boycott of the UK until the government creates a conducive environment for migrant workers to live and work.
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*Academic based in UK
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