Britain’s Indian-origin Home Secretary Suella Braverman has blamed the recent “riots” in Leicester on uncontrolled migration into the UK and the failure of newcomers to integrate. The riots broke out following an India-Pakistan cricket match. Braverman was speaking during her first speech since being appointed home secretary. She was referencing her visit to the eastern England city after clashes involving many Hindu and Muslim groups last month.
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“The unexamined drive towards multiculturalism as an end in itself combined with the corrosive aspects of identity politics has led us astray,” Braverman told the audience.
“I saw this when I went to Leicester recently. A melting pot of cultures and a beacon of religious harmony. But even there, riots and civil disorder have taken place because of failures to integrate large numbers of newcomers. Such conflict has no place in the UK,” she said.
Braverman insisted it was not “racist” to want to control the UK’s borders. The former Attorney General in the UK Cabinet used her family heritage as a reference point to back up her plans to control migration.
“This isn’t just about policy or economics for me. It’s intensely personal. My parents came here in the 1960s from Kenya and Mauritius. They loved Britain from afar, as children of the Commonwealth. It was Britain that offered them security and opportunity as young adults,” she said.
“It’s not racist for anyone, ethnic minority or otherwise, to want to control our borders. It’s not bigoted to say that we have too many asylum seekers who are abusing the system. It’s not xenophobic to say that mass and rapid migration places pressure on housing, public services and community relations,” she said.
“My parents came here through legal and controlled migration. They spoke the language, threw themselves into the community, they embraced British values. When they arrived, they signed up to be part of our shared project because the United Kingdom meant something distinct. Integration was part of the quid pro quo,” she added.
The minister reiterated that integration did not mean abandoning their Indian heritage but meant adopting British identity.
“This is the best place on earth to come and live in, but I fear that we are losing sight of the core values and the culture that made it so,” she warned.
(With inputs from agencies)
