The Disability and Migration Network rejects, in the strongest possible terms, the Government’s ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’ White Paper and the racist logic that underpins it. In the face of mounting electoral pressure from the far-right, the answer is never to adopt the same xenophobic explanations of society’s problems, but to offer a bold alternative vision, focussing on collective liberation. Choosing instead to divide and scapegoat, the Government is attacking migrants using the same narratives of ‘productivity’ and ‘contribution to society’ with which it justifies devastating welfare cuts.

Much like the ‘Get Britain Working’ White Paper before it, the ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’ White Paper is built on the deeply flawed logic that people can only demonstrate their value via paid employment. It also continues the dangerous ranking of different kinds of work based on reductive assumptions about how much ‘skill’ they require.

When the Government seeks to make it harder for ‘lower-skilled’ workers – such as those in health and social care – to come to the UK, it not only stigmatises migrants but also further weakens a crumbling social care system that is killing Disabled people.

The White Paper’s fixation with ‘contribution’ extends to proposed changes to settlement and citizenship rules. It suggests extending the standard period of time someone must spend in the UK before being able to settle to ten years, with the possibility of reduction if the person can demonstrate ‘contributions to the UK economy and society’.

Although we do not yet have details of how people will be expected to evidence these ‘contributions’, we wholly reject the premise that the right to settle in – or become a citizen of – the UK should depend on arbitrary measurements of value. Extending people’s routes to settlement also means subjecting them to even more extortionate visa fees. This will keep people in precarious situations and mean that many will fall into debt and exploitation in order to maintain regular status. It will also mean that many more people will become undocumented.

While we should never rely on elected politicians alone to deliver us a socially just society, the recent White Paper is a stark reminder of how important it is for us to resist the scapegoating of migrants and Disabled people together. It is also important to remember that, for now, the proposals in the Paper are not laws. We will continue to build solidarity and resist legislation that attacks migrants and Disabled people every step of the way.